A Spider's Focus
by lyokoMARVELanime
Summary: After a battle with his greatest arch-nemesis throws him into the world of Cocoon, Spider-Man eventually finds himself joining forces with the L'Cie heroes in their quest to save their world and defy their fate all while battling monsters, solving mysteries, and challenging the conspiracies of the Fal'Cie. Just another Wednesday for your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man huh?
1. Into Cocoon

_**Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls of all ages, writers, readers, reviewers, and all others alike, making its big debut into the world of Final Fantasy XIII, its the studio of lyokoMARVELanime! And now, put your hands together for the crossover crafter, the legend maker, I'm talking about none other than the man himself, lyokoMARVELanime!**_

 _ **[audience applause]**_

 _ **AN: Hey everybody, and welcome to the first chapter of my newest story, A Spider's Focus! This is a big deal for me, because not only is it my first crossover story with any title in the Final Fantasy series, it's also my first Spider-Man story, crossover or otherwise. And when I say first Spider-Man story, I mean a story that is solely focused on Spider-Man, and not a MARVEL based story where he's a special guest/supporting character. No, this is literally the first story I've put out there where Spidey is the leading character. And no, Avengers Academy doesn't count, because that's technically an Avengers story that focuses on multiple heroes.**_

 _ **Lightning: Ahem, can you please get on with it?**_

 _ **AN: Oh, right, sorry. Just wanted to make a point. Oh and by the way, please welcome, the leading star lady of FFXIII herself, Lightning Farron!**_

 _ **[audience applause]**_

 _ **Lightning: [just nods to the audience] Are you done yet, or are you actually going to start this thing?**_

 _ **AN: Sheesh. Pushy leading lady. Anyways, please enjoy everyone!**_

 _ **I do not own anything from any Spider-Man or Final Fantasy franchises or any other franchise mentioned in this story.**_

* * *

 **Chapter 1: Into Cocoon**

 _'Well, this is another fine mess I've gotten myself into,'_ was the thoughts of a certain young man clad in a red and blue, web-themed suit as he jumped from one rooftop to the next in order to make his way across the strange town he did not know. By day to a vast majority of the world, this man was known as Peter Parker, a freelance photographer for the Daily Bugle news industry, but to a select few in the world of costumed crime-fighters, vigilantes, and superheroes, he was known as the friendly neighborhood hero of New York City: Spider-Man. At the moment though, the only thing that Peter felt he could call himself was completely and utterly lost. Why would that be, might you ask? Well for starters, there is the fact that he is in a strange town that he does not know, as previously mentioned, but that was just the tip of the iceberg. If it were just a strange-looking town, it probably would not be much of a problem. He could just find a computer of some kind and look up his current location. Sadly, that was not an option because not only did he not have any civilian clothing on him in order to help him blend in, but he also had not seen one place that looked like a library or anywhere else he could use a computer. Add in the fact that he had seen a number of people who were different from the kind of people he was used to seeing in one way or another, be it in terms of hairstyles or even hair color, or their choice of attire, and Spidey could safely say that he was most likely not anywhere near New York at the moment, because even New York had a limit on people with eccentric fashion senses.

Now the next question you are probably asking is how did Spider-Man, a guy who was born in Queens, has always made New York his home in both his civilian life and hero life, and does not go out on incredible adventures on the same level as groups like the Avengers on a regular basis, end up in this strange place he does not know, and the answer is actually quite the story. It had all actually started as a pretty standard day, or at least as close to one as Peter was able to get ever since he was bitten by that genetically altered spider when he was fifteen; the sun was shining, criminal activity was not too big of a problem, and he was just heading over to the Daily Bugle to pick up a paycheck for his latest Spider-Man photos. To this day, Peter would say that so many people would be jealous of him if they knew that he was making a living off of making what were basically selfies, but that's beside the point, because by the time he was halfway to the Bugle, the whole day had started going downhill, and it all began when every media and broadcast signal was taken over by an old enemy of his: one Otto Octavius, alias Doctor Octopus.

You would think that Doc Ock taking over the airwaves to announce his latest scheme would not be something to be of much trouble, but this time around, it was in fact something that proved to be a threat to the entire world. Octavius was planning to gain domination over the world by manipulating the harmful UV rays of the sun so that the effects of global warming would be sped up to the point where it would kill millions of lives in seconds if he so desired, and as insurance for his plan, he had enlisted the help of some of the worst villains both from Spidey's rouges gallery, and around the world to make sure that it would succeed. Of course, what really had many people concerned was that he implied that he also possessed the means of creating an unstoppable force that would be an even more powerful threat to the world if his plans were stopped, but he did not give any exact details as to what it really was. By the time Octavius' broadcast had ended, a great deal of the world was starting to panic, while Spider-Man was quick to rendezvous with the one group that had the greatest chance of helping him stop the mad-scientist's plan: the Avengers.

Assembling with Earth's mightiest heroes was not the only thing that Spidey did though, because another important thing that he did was trade out his old, yet iconic and faithful red and blue suit for a new one that Tony Stark and Reed Richards had helped him to develop, which was made from the same material as the Fantastic Four's suits. Aside from the way it was made, it was very much similar to Spider-Man's original suit, especially in the sense that it retained his red and blue color scheme, along with the web pattern, but a major change that had to be noted was the fact that the spider-symbols on the front and back were now much larger than they once were, nearly identical to one and other, and were also now colored white. A couple of the Avengers had joked around and said that adding some more white to his suit like that made him look like he was a bit of a Captain America fan-boy, but Spidey just brushed it off and said that they had more important things to worry about than his choice of colors for his new suit, and in no time at all, they were tracking down Octavius to his base of operations.

The only problem with that, was that they had to fight their way through nearly every villain that had signed on with Doc Ock, which many had dubbed as the Sinister Squadron, and that was not an easy task given how many heavy hitters like Rhino, Sandman, Electro, Hydro-Man, Hobgoblin, and even villains like Abomination were standing as part of Octavius' team. Eventually, they did discover the location of Octavius' hideout, but the villains were determined to not let the Avengers get to their boss. It was at this point that things took another dive, as Captain America found himself forced to order Spidey to go after Doc Ock on his own while the Avengers held the rest of the villains off, but only after Spider-Man insisted that he be allowed to do so, since he felt that he was something of an expert on dealing with the scientist who now had four mechanical arms welded onto his back. This was actually a rather accurate fact, but it was not one that Spidey felt very proud of since there was a time when he actually looked up to Octavius, back when he was a good man with a brilliant scientific mind, but there was no time to be dealing with sentimentality, so Spidey buried those feelings and swung into action in order to face-off with his old foe and former idol once again.

Upon arriving in the heart of Octavius' latest secret lab, Spider-Man discovered how the multi-limbed villain was planning to unleash something more devastating than the threat of accelerating global warming to such a great extent, and he did not like it at all. It turned out that Octavius had created a device that would harness the incredible powers of an artifact known as the Tablet of Order and Chaos, and allow him to call upon the various Doc Ocks throughout time and space in order to gain domination over not just his own world, but every world in the multiverse as well. Spider-Man was well aware of just what the tablet was capable of, having gone through an entire adventure to restore it along with three other alternate versions of himself after it was shattered during a battle between him and Mysterio, and given what the self-proclaimed Master of Illusion was able to do with the thing, he did not want to even begin imagining what could be unleashed while it was in Octavius' hands, especially if Doc Ock was unable to really control it. If Octavius did lose control of its power for even a second, then there was a chance that all of reality would be shattered, something that Spider-Man had barely prevented the last time he had encountered the tablet. Despite his attempt to warn Octavius of this, Spider-Man found his words falling on deaf ears, as Doc Ock refused to believe that there was even the slightest chance he could not handle the tablet's power, so Spider-Man was left with no other option but to try and beat some sense into the madman.

What had followed next was nothing short of what Peter honestly could describe as his most intense, serious, and dangerous battle in all of the ten years he had been Spider-Man. Both he and Octavius fought each other with everything they had, and when they no longer had anything left to give, they found something else to throw out until it was also gone, and even then, they still kept at it. Neither one of them were willing to let the other gain the upper hand in their battle, and both were determined to not let the other win, proving that this would likely be remembered as their greatest and possibly final battle, and the one that would prove which one of them was truly the other's better. In the end though, it all really came down to which of them truly wanted it more, and in the end, Spider-Man was the one standing victorious over his defeated foe. It was all for not though, because not more than a few minutes after Octavius was beaten, the machine that Doc Ock was using to control the powers of the Tablet of Order and Chaos suddenly malfunctioned, and the tablet's powers were unleashed in a spectacular, uncontrollable blaze of glory. The only way to stop it from destroying everything, was to somehow shut down the machine, but doing so meant someone had to get close enough to risk getting sucked into the vortex that had now opened up, and likely end up being thrown to some random point in reality or dead.

Spider-Man was quick to leap over to the controls, despite Octavius saying that he would be the one to do it as a way of atoning for what he had done, but Spidey would not hear of it, since he was not willing to let even his greatest enemy die despite what he had done. It was in that moment that Octavius finally saw that Spider-Man was the one who was truly superior between the two of them, a fact he admitted aloud to Peter before he joined the younger man in trying to stop the chaos he had unleashed, thinking that there would be a better chance of them surviving and making it out safely if they were to work together in stopping it. Sadly, that belief was ill-placed, because while they did manage to shut down the machine, they were unable to do anything to prevent themselves from being sucked into the vortex and thrown to parts unknown. Spider-Man had attempted to keep a strong hold on Octavius, but the multi-armed scientist somehow slipped from his grasp as they flew through the nexus between time and space, and it was not long afterwards that he lost sight of Doc Ock completely. The next thing Spidey knew, he was falling from the sky into the town he was now located in, and it was only thanks to a quickly thrown out web-line on the tallest, nearby structure, which turned out to be some kind of archway just a little ways off the shore from what he could only assume was a seaside city that he was able to survive, but just barely.

 _'So basically, to recap, I saved my world from Doc Ock's wacked out, psycho, crazy-man plan, just to get pulled out of my dimension and thrown to God-only-knows-where, while Doc Ock is either lost between dimensions or stranded in another dimension as well, and I have no clue if I'm even in my dimension or how to get back home. Yeah, this is definitely one of those days that I wish I had stayed in bed,'_ Spidey thought to himself as he landed on the next rooftop that was in the path of his journey through the strange town. He then paused for a minute as a new thought occurred to him. _'So if I have no idea where to go from here, then why the heck am I still moving around like I know where I'm going?'_

Spidey was not really expecting an answer to his question, but before anyone or anything could begin to give him some form of answer, he caught sight of something down below him on the streets, or rather some _one_. The person in question was a young woman that he assumed was probably close to his age, with pink hair, and dressed in a brown, turtleneck shirt, a sleeveless, white jacket, a green metallic pauldron on her left shoulder, tan shorts, black fingerless gloves, and black boots that reached her knees. He could also see that the woman had a red bag strapped to her left leg, and a large black case hanging down from her belt, but what really threw him for a loop was the long red cape that she wore on her left shoulder. Now do not misunderstand, Spidey had seen plenty of people wearing capes in his line of work, but he had never seen someone like this woman wearing one like it was casual wear. Aside from her appearance, Spidey could also see that the woman had a very toned, athletic body, and even from here, he could feel a vibe coming off of her that he normally only felt around people like Black Widow.

 _'Guess that would explain why no one is trying to mess with her even at this time of night,'_ Spidey thought to himself as he watched her go by. He may not know exactly what time it was at the moment, but given the dark, star-lit sky, and how a good majority of the area seemed to be devoid of any other people besides him and the woman on the street, he could only assume that it was a rather late hour. _'Whoops; spoke too soon,'_ he then found himself thinking just a few seconds later when he saw a small group of people start moving to intercept the woman, and he did not need his trusted Spider-Sense to know that these men were not likely the friendly kind of people. _'Guess it's time I get acquainted with the locals. And who knows, maybe I can get some help from her after saving her life.'_

Spider-Man knew it would be wrong of him to think like that, since it basically made it seem like he would be saving this woman just so he could get some help, but he was getting desperate for answers at this point. Besides, even if he was not, he would still be doing something to help this woman. After all, like his late Uncle Ben had always said, with great power comes great responsibility. With that in mind, Spidey quickly swung into action.

* * *

It had been a rather long day for Lightning Farron, but not because of work. No, the thing that had been occupying her thoughts for the most part was actually her sister, Serah. For the past few days, her younger sibling had been rather quiet and somewhat distant, even when Lightning was around, and given that she was something of an expert on being distant, Lightning knew what she was talking about when she said that. The fact that such a bright, cheery girl like Serah was acting so different would be reason enough for concern, but earlier today, she found out that Serah had also been acting rather distant towards her idiot boyfriend, Snow Villiers as well after she ran into Snow's little gang, NORA during one of her patrols on the town's borders. Said run in with the gang of kids and her sister's overly happy and optimistic boyfriend was also a contributing factor to Lightning's current mood, but that was only a small contributing factor to her irritation, for lack of a better word. After finally getting off the clock for the day, Lightning was really looking forward to just getting home and crashing on either her couch or her bed in an attempt to just sleep it all off and hope that it would all be better by the following morning, but clearly life had other plans for her, much to her added annoyance.

She had noticed the thugs that were now approaching her earlier from the corner of her eye, and had already deemed them as barely even a minor threat, to her at least, but the fact that they were now following her, likely expecting her to run scared or something, was really not what she needed right now. After going a few more paces forward without the punks taking a hint and leaving, Lightning finally turned around and leveled them with a small glare, and asked, "Can I help you with something?"

"Oh, I'm sure you can _help_ us with a few things, baby," the closest thug replied while he grinned darkly with the rest of his friends, clearly not picking up on the dangerous aura that Lightning was now starting to give off.

Lightning just rolled her eyes a bit at the rather rude remark before she said, "Yeah, I probably could. For starters, I could help you all to the hospital if you decide you really want to do this."

"What did you say, bitch," another thug snarled.

"I think we need to teach her some manners," the third one in the group suggested as they all started moving towards her, none of them ever once noting how Lightning was starting to drop into a fighting stance.

Before anything else could happen, a new voice suddenly cut in that caused everyone to stop what they were doing. "If you ask me, I think she would be the better option of teaching someone manners, because you guys clearly don't have any at all," the voice said, its tone bright and cheerful despite the rather dangerous atmosphere. "Seriously guys, if you're gonna go and stalk a woman at night and then pretty much threaten her while making it clear you have no good intentions, don't say that you're going to teach anyone manners."

"Who's there," the leader of the thugs demanded, his hand already pulling out a gun while the rest of his crew were stepping back and looking around to find the person who had spoken. His answer came when what appeared to be a web suddenly shot down and pulled his gun away while a figure dropped down on the ground between Lightning and the thugs after the weapon had disappeared from everyone's sight. When they all saw the person in question, they were a bit surprised to see a man clad in a tight, red and blue suit with a giant, white spider on his back and chest, and when the man looked up, the thugs could have sworn that they saw the large white eyes on his mask narrow a little as he looked at them. This man, unknown to Lightning or her pathetic excuse for attackers was none other than Spider-Man.

"So, you guys want to try and make excuses as to why you're harassing the nice lady over there, or do you want to just skip to the part where I say that there are two ways we can do this," Spider-Man asked. When no one answered him, Spidey just glanced around for a minute before he finally asked, "What, too stunned by my overwhelming levels of amazing to speak?"

"Aw, isn't that cute? A little clown thinks he's some big-shot hero," one of the bigger thugs mocked.

"Hey, about those two ways we can do this, is one of them the easy way," the second one to have spoken asked.

"Well, I'm not gonna lie to you fellas. No, none of the ways we can do this is the easy way," Spider-Man replied. "In point of fact, your options are either giving up and trying to run away like little girls only to end up getting the crap beaten out of you by me, or try to fight and get the crap beaten out of you by me. Either way, I'm gonna beat the crap out of you, so I think you can see where this is going."

Lightning was not sure what to make of this whole situation. One minute she was being annoyed by these punks who thought they could be a threat to her, the next minute this stranger in red and blue just appears out of nowhere after disarming their leader, and now that same stranger was talking like he was actually going to be able to beat all of these guys on his own. On one hand, she would probably be a little impressed by his sudden entrance and how he had disarmed the thug, but on the other hand, he seemed to be about as cocky as Snow, and so far, talked just about as much, which give her ample reason to be annoyed with him. The thugs he was facing on the other hand, had already made up their minds on what to think about him, and that was the fact that they did not like him at all.

"Get him," the leader of the thugs shouted and in no time at all, they were all charging at Spider-Man in an attempt to attack him. The keyword being "attempt", because despite having him outnumbered, none of the thugs seemed like they were able to land a hit on the web-head, and he did not even seem to really be trying.

"Seriously? 'Get him'? Is that really the best you've got," Spider-Man questioned as he easily leaned from side to side to side-step the first few attacks, until he finally just jumped over the fourth thug in the group. "I mean, I go out of my way to make you guys famous Spider-perps, and you can't even be bothered to be a little more original than that? I'm a little disappointed."

Aside from getting angrier, the thugs did not seem to pay any mind to Spider-Man's words, and just continued their attempts to harm him, only for each and every one of them to end up being in vain as Spider-Man dodged them all without any trouble. Eventually, Spider-Man did strike back, and it was to knock the largest of the thugs into a nearby wall with a hard kick to the back, and said thug soon found that he would be staying there after Spidey had tied him down to the wall with his signature webs. Seeing one of their biggest guys taken out like that drew the rest of the thugs to draw their weapons, most of them being guns while the leader just drew a knife from his jacket, and the minute that the guns were out, they opened fire on the web-head. Lightning would have shouted a warning to him, but for some reason, her voice did not seem to work. Thankfully, no warning was needed, because Spider-Man easily flipped up into the air, and was soon twisting and turning around so that none of the shots landed on him. It was not entirely painless though, like it usually was, because he could still feel a few slight aches from where he had incurred some more serious injuries in his fight with Doc Ock, but Spidey ignored it all and managed to evade the shots that were being fired at him until he finally came to rest on the side of the wall.

"Okay, now you're starting to do a little better," Spider-Man complimented, mockingly. "See, now you're actually giving me a reason to really use my amazing spider-powers. Maybe not to a great extent, but at least you're trying."

Seeing Spider-Man perched on the side of a building like that shocked the thugs and Lightning a great deal, but only the leader of the thugs was able to say anything. "What the hell are you? Some kind of soldier?"

Even with his mask, it was obvious that Spider-Man was giving the crook a deadpan look when he next spoke. "Really? Do you seriously think I'm a soldier? Come on, a soldier in a skin-tight red and blue, web-themed suit with a giant spider on his chest? Wow, you're doing a _swell_ job at showing how you're the brains of this outfit."

"Will you just shut the hell up, you mother fu…" the leader started to say only to have his mouth suddenly webbed shut by Spider-Man.

"Now, now, watch the mouth. In case you've forgotten, we're in the presence of a lady," Spider-Man reprimanded like a parent scolding their child.

The minute that Spider-Man had said that, Lightning was brought back into the moment, and she did not hesitate to jump into action. None of the thugs saw her coming before she had landed a hard hit into their leader's gut that was soon followed by a left cross and a spin kick that sent him flying across the street, leaving each of the remaining thugs and Spider-Man to just gape in shock at what had just happened. Spider-Man was the first to come out of his shock, seeing as this was not the first time he had seen a beautiful woman take down some punk like that, and he immediately leaped down from his perch and snagged a pair of the remaining thugs with his webs as he spun through the air. After landing on the ground again, Spider-Man immediately pulled on the web-lines that he had snagged the thugs with, and said punks were soon flying through the air into the wall that Spider-Man was facing, falling unconscious the minute that they hit said wall.

"You really shouldn't let yourselves get distracted by a beautiful woman kicking someone's butt like that. I don't…well, not anymore," Spider-Man quipped as he easily dodged a strike from one of the last few thugs. Lightning was handling the other one on her own well enough, but for Spidey, this whole fight was starting to drag on a little, so he soon flipped over his current opponent, and snagged the one Lightning was fighting with a web-line before pulling him into his last, conscious friend, knocking them both to the ground when they collided with each other. Just as the two were starting to rise up, they found their efforts halted when Spider-Man shot out more webs to keep them both tied down on the ground before he knocked them both out with a swift hit to their heads.

"Aw, look at 'em. They're all tuckered out," Spider-Man cooed in one final jest for the fight before turning his attention to the pink haired woman who was now staring at him with a very serious, even gaze. "Not to worry, Miss. These guys won't be bothering you anymore, but would you mind calling the cops to come pick them up for me? This suit doesn't really come with pockets," Spider-Man informed her. Lightning said nothing in response to this, but instead just continued staring at him with that same look on her face, immediately drawing Spider-Man's concern up a few notches. "Uh…Miss, are you okay? I know I'm amazing; spectacular even, but I was sure that my shock-and-awe levels had dropped down from inducing stunned silences a few years ago."

This time, Lightning did give a response, but not one that Spider-Man was expecting. Instead, she just narrowed her eyes a little more, and then slugged him across the face. Since he was not expecting the blow, Spidey ended up stumbling a little, but he still managed to remain standing as he turned his gaze back to the pink haired woman. "Hey, what was that for," Spider-Man demanded. _'And why didn't my Spider-Sense warn me that was coming,'_ he added in his head.

"For getting in the middle of something that didn't concern you. I had that perfectly under control before you showed up," Lightning replied with a bit more of an edge in her tone than she had probably meant.

"Well excuse me for just doing my friendly neighbor duty and helping out someone who seemed to be in trouble," Spider-Man easily quipped while he rubbed the side of his face, wondering just how strong this woman was. "Seriously, do you always thank people who help you out like that, or am I just special?"

Lightning's eye twitched a little in response to this even as she demanded, "Who are you?"

Spider-Man dropped his hand down at this before he remarked, "Does nobody understand the concept of the mask nowadays? Seriously, I know that most heroes don't have them, but some of us do wish to keep a _secret_ identity, thank you very much."

Spidey's mini-rant was halted from going any further when he suddenly found a rather strange sword being held at his throat by the woman he just rescued. "I'm not going to ask again, so either shut up or tell me a name before I decide to run my gunblade through you."

"Alright, alright! Just calm down, Pinkie," Spidey replied as he raised his hands in mock surrender before trying to push the tip of the gunblade aside with a finger.

The gunblade did not stay away from him for very long, as Lightning was soon redirecting it right back at his neck as she moved closer so that she was right in his face. "My hair is not pink. It's rose colored," she snarled.

"My bad," Spider-Man immediately stated. He then glanced down at their current positions and said, "Uh…would you mind stepping back a little, or are you trying to tell me that this is all just you're very strange way of asking if you can give me a thank-you kiss?"

For the first time in years, Lightning's face actually lit up in a small blush as she immediately moved back and turned away from the web-head so that she could attempt to regain control of herself. Once she was sure that she had done so, she looked back and silently told him to answer her question. "Well, to answer your question, I think it should be pretty obvious who I am," Spidey finally replied. When Lightning just continued glaring at him, he took that to mean that she wanted to hear the words from his mouth, and said, "Come on, the suit and the webs weren't enough of a give-away? I'm Spider-Man."

"You're who," Lightning immediately questioned with a raised eyebrow. She was beginning to wonder just how sane this guy really was.

"Spider-Man," Peter repeated. "You know; the amazing, spectacular, friendly neighborhood Spider-Man? One of the world's most popular crime fighters? The guy who does whatever a spider can? Any of this ringing a bell?"

"No," was the simple reply that Lightning gave.

"Seriously," Spider-Man asked. When Lightning's expression did not change, he just sighed tiredly before turning things around. "You know what, whatever. It's my turn to ask some questions, if you don't mind. Just bear with me and try to keep an open mind, please, because some of them may seem a little strange."

"Said the guy who claims his name is Spider-Man," Lightning pointed out with crossed arms.

"Harsh, but while we're on the topic of names, mind if I ask what yours is," Spider-Man easily returned.

"Lightning."

Spider-Man just stared for a minute at the simple answer the rose-haired woman gave him, before he finally said, "Really? You're giving me a hard time about my name, and then you go and tell me that you're name is supposed to be Lightning?"

"That is my name," Lightning practically snarled.

"Yeah, and I'm multi-billion dollar CEO of a major tech company. Get it? I'm being sarcastic," Spider-Man retorted. Lightning's glare seemed to intensify a little at that, immediately telling Spidey to change the subject right away. "Okay, so first possibly strange questions, what planet is this and how close is it to Earth, or Terra, or whatever you would call it?"

That earned him an odd look from Lightning, but she still answered anyways. "You're on the world of Cocoon, which floats directly above Pulse. As for the second part of your question, I've never heard of a world called Earth or Terra."

"Great," Spider-Man drawled. "Okay, so by any chance, is there a city known as New York around here, or any place known as Stark Industries or something similar to that?"

"No," was the next simple reply from Lightning, all the while, her questioning of this man's sanity continued to grow more and more. "Anything else?"

"Nope, that's just about it, so nice meeting you, Lightning, even though you did hit me, but I've gotta get going now," Spider-Man said, and he then turned to leave. What he did not expect was that he would end up turning in a bad way, and ultimately putting a bit of pressure on the injury he had sustained to his leg at some point during his fight with Doc Ock. The minute he did, he was unable to keep himself from falling to one knee as he attempted to suppress a grunt of pain from rising, even as he registered just how much his side was hurting from when one of Ock's tentacles had hit him there.

Lightning would have had to be blind and deaf to not notice any of this happen right in front of her, and since it did, she was immediately putting aside any questions on whether or not this "Spider-Man" was crazy and became far more concerned about his wellbeing, physically. "Are you alright," Lightning immediately asked as she moved to try and help him.

"Yeah, I'm fine, really. Just a few small injuries I got from an earlier fight, but it's nothing too bad. I heal fast, so I can just sleep it off," Spidey waved off.

Lightning was not going to buy that though, especially since Spider-Man immediately fell back down to his knees again after he tried to stand up. "Here," she said as she grabbed one of his arms and lifted it over her shoulder so that he could lean on her when they both stood up.

"Uh, what're you doing," Spider-Man asked, completely befuddled.

"Just come on," Lightning said as she helped him along.

"Sure, but where are you taking me?"

"My place. I was actually on my way home when this whole mess started, and even if there are any doctor's offices open at this time of night, I get the feeling you wouldn't go to any of them," Lightning stated.

"Well yeah, but that's mostly because I don't know my way around this city…whatever it's called," Spider-Man admitted. "But aside from that, why are you taking me, a random guy in a spider-suit that you just met and probably think is crazy to your place?"

 _'So he picked up on that,'_ Lightning noted in reference to when Spidey mentioned that she had been thinking he was crazy. She put aside though and instead answered, "Because I have a first-aid kit at home that we could use to patch you up."

Spider-Man said nothing in response to that, but instead just nodded and allowed his unexpected new companion to help him along to the place she called home, all the while suppressing any urges to make a joke about the whole situation.

* * *

Getting to Lightning's place of residence did not take very long, and as a result, the rose-haired woman was soon dropping Spider-Man on her couch while she retrieved the first-aid kit she had mentioned earlier. While she was doing that, Spidey took the chance to look around the place, and from what he could see, it was actually quite nice, especially in comparison to the apartment that he currently lived in, if you could really call that dingy, little place an apartment. One thing that really caught his attention though was a small picture that was sitting on a nearby table, which held an image of Lightning standing next to another girl that looked a lot like her with a bright smile on her face.

"Nice place," Spidey commented when Lightning finally came back with the first-aid kit.

Lightning just silently nodded in thanks as she opened the kit, which from what Spidey saw, was packed with a lot more than a typical home-kept first-aid kit. "I'll need you to take off your shirt," Lightning suddenly said, getting right to business.

At that point, Spider-Man could no longer stop himself. "Wow, guess I should've figured you move pretty fast considering your name, but I didn't think it was that fast. You should at least buy me dinner first."

That joke earned the web-head a hard punch to the gut from Lightning as her face turned pink for the second time that night alone. "J-just shut up and do it!"

"Ow! Okay, okay! No need to hit the injured superhero," Spider-Man groaned, and he quickly obliged Lightning's earlier request while be careful enough to make sure that his mask would not be pulled off along with his shirt.

The minute that Spider-Man's shirt had been fully removed, Lightning had to stop and stare, but not for the reasons you might think. Yes, she could see that he was actually rather fit, but she was able to tell that even before he had removed his shirt, considering that his suit was skin tight. The real reason that she had stopped and stared was because of the fact that she could see that whatever injuries he had taken in the earlier fight he had mentioned were not the only ones he had, because she easily spotted a few faint scars on him as well. Some of them were really not that noticeable to the average person, mostly due to the fact that they had faded quite a bit over time, but to a well-trained soldier like her, they were still quite noticeable indeed. Shaking it off, Lightning quickly grabbed the necessary bandages from the kit and started wrapping them around Spider-Man's torso. "I know you said you were in a serious fight earlier, but how did you get so many scars like these," Lightning eventually asked when she was halfway done.

Spider-Man gave a humorless chuckle and said, "Well, that's what happens when you've been swinging around, fighting bad guys, saving lives, and doing everything else I've been doing for about ten years."

"Ten years," Lightning gasped in shock. After getting a nod in confirmation, Lightning immediately asked a follow-up question. "If you've been around for that long, then how come I've never heard of you until now?"

"Uh…would you believe me if I told you I was from another universe," Spider-Man asked. Lightning just leveled him with another look, to which Spider-Man responded, "Of course not, but whether you believe it or not doesn't matter, because that's the honest truth. You see, that fight I mentioned that I had been in earlier, had actually been an attempt to stop my archenemy, Doctor Octopus, who was planning to use a very dangerous artifact to bring alternate versions of himself to our universe, and sometime during our fight, he lost control of it. I tried to help him get control of it before it destroyed our world, and we did succeed, but as a result, we were both pulled into the vortex that had opened up. Next thing I know, I'm falling into this city and then I basically just wandered around trying to figure out where I was until I ran into you."

Both of the two individuals were silent for a minute, letting Spider-Man's story sink in, until Lightning finally broke the silence once more. "I think I should check to see if you have a head injury or something," the soldier stated as she reached for his mask, but she ended up jumping a little in surprise when Spider-Man's hand suddenly shot up and grabbed her wrist just as she was about to brush the mask's fabric.

"Yeah sorry, but I can't let you do that," Spider-Man apologized.

"Why not," Lightning questioned with slowly narrowing eyes.

"Because I've got a secret identity to keep, remember?"

"But if you're really from another universe, then for all you know, you don't even exist here, so there wouldn't be a problem," Lightning immediately pointed out.

"Uh…good point," Spidey admitted. "But still, I'd rather not. It's nothing personal, but I just don't feel comfortable revealing my secret identity to someone that I literally just met a few minutes ago."

It was clear that the web-head was going to be stubborn about this, but Lightning was not going to have any of that. "Take it off."

"No," Spider-Man immediately replied.

"Take it off."

"Nope."

"Take. The mask. Off. Now."

"Hmm, let me think about it for…No!"

Lightning huffed in frustration, having already nearly lost a lot of her patience with this man, but she quickly took a deep breath to calm herself down, and said, "Okay, how about if I promised not to tell anyone who you really are? Will you take the mask off then?"

Spider-Man started to reply, but then paused for a moment to think about this. When he finally seemed to reach a decision, he looked Lightning straight in the eye and said, "Are you sure about that? If you make that promise that means that you can't tell anyone. Not your friends, not your coworkers, not your best friend, not even your family unless I say it's okay. You're going to have to swear it."

Lightning met Spider-Man's gaze with a hard look of her own and said, "Fine, I swear on my mother's grave I won't tell anyone who you really are unless you say it's okay. Happy?"

"Delighted," Spider-Man replied, making a small note of Lightning's words as he did. He then hesitantly reached for his mask, trying Lightning's nerves a little as he did since she was not entirely sure if he was being deliberately slow just to annoy her, until finally, he pulled the mask off, revealing his brown hair, and kind face with brown eyes to her. "Hi, I'm Peter Parker, and I've been Spider-Man since I was fifteen years old."

Lightning just gaped in honest surprise. She had assumed that he would be a little younger, but he looked like he was barely that much older than her, a fact that she figured was most likely true when she remembered that he said he had been Spider-Man for ten years and added that information to what he had just revealed. Of course, she was soon stirred from her thoughts when Peter started feeling a little uncomfortable with all of her staring and asked, "Uh…do I have something on my face?"

Lightning shook her head a bit to regain her senses and said, "Sorry. I just wasn't expecting you to be so…young, now or when you started…whatever you would call this."

"You mean being a superhero," Peter smirked.

Lightning just scoffed in response to this and muttered, "And now you're back to reminding me of my sister's idiot boyfriend."

That got Peter's attention, and he quickly glanced between Lightning and the photo he noticed earlier before he asked, "Is that who the girl in the picture with you is?"

"Yeah," Lightning nodded. "That's Serah."

"Huh. She kinda looks like you. You know, if you were to smile a little more," Peter joked.

Lightning just grumbled something under her breath in response to that before she quickly grabbed Peter's head and started doing all of the usual checks for any signs of a head injury. "Well, looks like you're head is alright, at least physically, but that doesn't mean there isn't still a chance that you're crazy," Lightning admitted after a minute before she resumed bandaging Peter's other injuries.

"Uh, I swing around on a thin, web-line that's stronger than steel, in a skin-tight red and blue suit, and fight supervillains and bad guys for free. I'm pretty sure that's a good sign of whether or not I might be crazy," Peter joked in response.

Lightning just rolled her eyes and then finally finished bandaging Peter up, placed everything she had been using back in the first-aid kit, and then stood to put the kit away. "Hey, thanks for helping me out like this," Peter said as Lightning was doing all of this. "Uh…do you have a computer I could use?"

Lightning just nodded over to where the device he had requested was as a way of saying go for it, and Peter immediately went to work looking up everything he needed find. It was not long after that though that Lightning heard Peter mumbling something about her computer being impressive enough to make someone named Stark jealous, but that was soon followed by him groaning and grunting in frustration, and she soon found that she could not help but go over and see what was bothering him so much. "What? Checking to make sure that you didn't ruin someone's life by telling me your 'secret identity'," Lightning inquired.

"Actually, I already did that and found out that you were right in saying that as far as your world is concerned, 'Peter Parker' doesn't exist. It's everything I've run on a search on afterwards that has me getting worked up," Peter admitted before he finally moved away from the computer in defeat. "Not only do you guys not have so much as a Manhattan, let alone New York or even Queens, but you don't even have a Stark Industries, Baxter Building, or Horizon Labs. No Tony Stark, no Reed Richards, no Doctor Strange, and no anybody who's going to be able to help me get back home, at least in regards to people I know!"

"Why can't you just figure out a way to do it on your own," Lightning asked, clearly still humoring Spidey in regards to his claim about being from another dimension. "I mean, if you were smart enough to figure out how to keep that device of this Doctor Octopus' from blowing up your world, then can't you figure out a way to get yourself home?"

"Sure, if I was a mega genius with several million dollars to my name," Peter pointed out. "But in case you haven't noticed, the only things I have on me are my spider-suit, my web shooters, and the digital camera that's safely tucked away in my belt. And let's not forget the fact that even if I did have my wallet on me, I'm pretty sure that my money wouldn't be any good around here."

Lightning may have thought that this guy was probably insane, but she did have to admit that he made a few good points. He certainly could not go around town dressed in that ridiculous costume all the time if he did not want to stand out to any great extent, and even without his crazy story about being from another dimension, it did seem rather obvious that he did not have any money on him; she found out he had not been kidding when he said that his suit did not have pockets as she was bandaging him up. Even if he did have any money on him, there was not likely to be any hotels or anything like that open at this hour, so begrudgingly, there was only one thing that she could really see for her to do now. "Wait here for a minute," she said before she stepped out of the room.

Before he could even ask what she was doing, Peter found that Lightning was already gone, and he was left on his own at her computer. Of course, he was not left alone for very long, as Lightning soon came back with a blanket under one arm and a set of clothes in her other hand that she immediately tossed to him. "You can wear these until we find you something else to wear. They're some of my father's old clothes, and unfortunately for you, they're also the only clothes we own that are meant for a boy," Lightning explained before she walked over to the couch.

"Uh…what," was all Peter could say as he caught the clothes that were just thrown at him and looked between them and Lightning.

"Also, I don't have a guest room, so you'll have to settle for the couch for right now," Lightning continued on as though Peter had not said anything.

"Okay, whoa, whoa, hold on a minute," Peter then said. "You've already done enough by patching me up; I can't ask you to let me spend the night here or something."

"Too bad, because the way I see it, the only other option you have is to sleep on the street, and I can't really let you do that," Lightning retorted after turning to face him, daring him to argue with her.

"If it makes you feel better, I wouldn't really be sleeping on the streets. I'd more than likely be sleeping in a web-hammock or something," Peter replied, half-seriously. When Lightning's expression remained unchanged, he then added, "Besides, what about your family? Don't you think they'd have something against you letting some random guy you just met sleep on your couch without telling them?"

"Serah's currently out with her boyfriend, Snow, and she probably won't be back until later tonight. By that time, she'll probably be too tired to really notice you, even if you're not wearing something to hide that onesie of yours," Lightning immediately replied.

"It's _not_ a onesie," Peter shot back, slightly annoyed. "And besides, what about your parents? Don't you think they'd have something to say about this, since you're obviously still living with them?"

"My parents are dead," Lightning revealed, her tone just oozing with anger at having the subject brought up. That shut Peter up, and Lightning took that to mean that he was starting to pity her, which she did not want or need from him. "Hey, before you go apologizing, don't bother. I don't need your pity."

"I was only going to apologize for bringing it up, and it wouldn't be out of pity. It's actually because I can relate to that," Peter revealed, drawing a confused look from Lightning. "I lost my parents, too. They had left for some kind of business thing when I was really little and died on the flight over. I spent the next few years being raised by my aunt and uncle, until my uncle was killed when I was fifteen."

If Peter's revelation about how he had been Spider-Man since he was fifteen, and that he had been doing it for ten years was a surprise to Lightning, then this was definitely a jaw-dropper, because she had not expected that at all. "So…you don't have any other family aside from your aunt," she then asked, with a surprising amount of hesitance for her part.

"Yep. She's probably worried sick about me by now," Peter mused, partly to Lightning and partly to himself. "I'm guessing Serah's the only family you have left too, right?"

"Yeah," Lightning nodded.

The air became a lot heavier from that moment, both of them wondering if they should try to say something in order to ease the sorrow that had now fallen amongst them. After several awkward minutes, which seemed to be more like a lifetime, Peter finally said, "Well, if you really think it's for the best, then I guess it would be wrong of me to argue, right?"

"Yeah, that is unless you're uncomfortable with it," Lightning replied, wondering why she was suddenly less confident in her chosen course of action. She was always confident in her decisions, so why should this be any different?

"No, it's uh…it's fine. I'd just hate to think that I might be imposing or anything," Peter reassured her.

"You wouldn't be."

"…Okay then," Peter nodded, finally agreeing to Lightning's offer. He then retrieved the shirt for his Spider-Man suit and easily slipped on the clothes Lightning had offered him on over said suit. "Thanks again, Lightning, but I still have to ask if there's any chance you're going to tell me your real name since I told you mine?"

"Nope, not a chance at all," Lightning stated. "And you're welcome. Guess I'll see you in the morning if you get up before I have to go to work."

"I guess so," Peter quietly replied as Lightning departed for her own room, leaving him to situate himself on the couch for the night, making sure that any part of his costume that was not covered by his borrowed outfit was concealed beneath the blanket. As he finally drifted off to sleep, he could not help but think once again, _'What the thwip have you gotten yourself into this time, Parker?'_

* * *

 ** _AN: Well, that was definitely an awkward way to wrap up both the night and a first meeting. First prize for that goes to Peter "Spider-Man" Parker and Lightning Farron!_**

 ** _[audience laugh]_**

 ** _Okay, so getting serious here, I'm sure you've all noticed by now, but I'm going to go ahead and say it anyway. This story's Spider-Man, like the Spidey of many different Spider-Man fanfictions, has a mix of various elements from different Spider-Man series. Don't worry, his power set is still the basic stuff that you're used to seeing, web shooters and such, but I'm really referring to some of his history and design. As far as his appearance goes, the Spider-Man suit is actually that of the one we've seen that he will be wearing in the upcoming Spider-Man PS4 game. I know a lot of people are not too big on it, and I actually wasn't either at first, but after thinking about it for a while and getting a few more looks at it, I found that it kinda started to grow on me a little. It's a nice new original take on the classic Spidey suit, so why not give it a chance?_**

 ** _Anyways, moving on to Spidey-History 101: Yeah, Spider-Man got his powers when he was fifteen, and we have the typical origin story for him, a lot of his big villains have come into conflict with him, there was a time when he was in a relationship with Gwen Stacy, then came that fateful face-off with Green Goblin that Gwen died during, Spider-Man eventually joined the Avengers as a part-timer, there was an adventure that was pretty much this story's incarnation of Shattered Dimensions, and then, as you saw at the beginning of this story, it all led up to an interpretation of the Ends of the Earth story line from the comics. And that's the basic summary, so I hope that satisfies a lot of people's curiosity for now._**

 ** _Also, yes, Spidey is a little older than Lightning in this story, but only by about four years or so, give or take. I've mentioned before that I like the younger versions of Spidey, and I did not want to go with the version from the comics that was like 30-something, so yeah, he's experienced a lot in his ten years as a hero. Plus, I also wanted Spidey and Lightning to be as close to the same age as possible in this little epic. I'm sure you can all probably guess why._**

 ** _As for where this story starts off on the FFXIII side of things, this would actually be somewhere around the night of Day 7, you know, the day when Serah told Snow she had become a Pulse L'Cie. I had originally wanted it to start just a little before the Thirteen Days, but I figured that it would be better this way, partly because we'd get to the main story of the game a bit sooner, which would be when things really start to get interesting._**

 ** _Lightning: Interesting how?_**

 ** _AN: Sorry Light, but not even you are gonna get anything out of me in the way of spoilers, and before to try to threaten it out of me, keep in mind, that I do have a number of crazy gags to protect myself and keep others from giving away spoilers._**

 ** _The only spoilers I will give away though are the ones you are about to see after I say three simple words. Onto the Preview!..._**

 ** _The next morning sees Peter meeting both Serah and Snow, and the two are quick to bring the web-head on a tour of Bodhum while they help him with getting better outfitted for living on Cocoon. Thankfully, Peter is a few steps ahead in thinking up a good cover story, but when trouble suddenly hits the streets with Serah being dragged right into the middle of it, the people of Cocoon and Bodhum will soon find themselves officially meeting New York's friendly neighborhood hero. See what happens in this series of first encounters next time._**

 ** _Yep, we're in for quite the excitement next time. Until then though..._**

 ** _Please read and review, and swing on back for next time, fellow true believers!_**

 ** _Spider-Man: Really? "Swing on back for next time"? That's the best you've got?_**

 ** _AN: Ah like you're one to talk Mister "Hey Everyone"._**

 ** _Spider-Man: Touche._**


	2. Welcome to Bodhum

_**AN: Hey guys! We're back for more Spidey and Fantasy!**_

 _ **Snow: Spidey and Fantasy?**_

 _ **AN: What? I'm still working on alternate names for this thing in case it becomes part of a series like a lot of my stories kinda tend to. Speaking of which, give it up for this chapter's special guests, Snow Villiers and Serah Farron!**_

 ** _[audience applause]_**

 ** _Serah: Aw, thanks! You guys are great._**

 ** _Snow: Yeah! The hero has arrived!_**

 ** _Spider-Man: Uh, I think that technically I'm the hero here._**

 ** _AN: Don't worry about it too much, Spidey. It's just something he says a lot._**

 ** _Snow: What do you mean it's just something I say?_**

 ** _Serah: Uh, hey, I think there's a few reviews for this chapter you could probably answer before we start, lyokoMARVEL._**

 ** _AN: Ah sure why not? Wait a minute, there's only one guy who asked anything in his review for last chapter._**

 ** _Serah: Still, you should answer him. It'd be rude not to._**

 ** _AN: Alright, alright. Ahem, in answer to the guest reviewer "Great Saiyaman54", sorry, but Spidey's going to be sticking with the costume I mentioned him having for a long time. As for appearance changes, that will likely only happen in a possible sequel to this story. As for the pairing between Spidey and Lightning, I'm not going to lie. Yes, that will happen, and you'll actually see a few of my reasons as to why I would make that happen later on in this chapter. You know, besides the fact that seeing those two paired up would be either really interesting or extremely funny._**

 ** _Snow: I don't think Sis would find it that funny._**

 ** _Lighting: [suddenly shows up and punches Snow through a wall] I'm not your sister!_**

 ** _AN: Oooh! That's gotta hurt even in a studio that makes that kind of thing as harmless as the stuff you see happen to the characters of a Looney Toon cartoon. I'm thinking we should get a move on before anything else happens between those two._**

 ** _Serah: I would appreciate it if you did, since one of those two is my fiance and the other is my sister._**

 ** _AN: Uh, technically he's just your boyfriend at this point in the story [notices Serah starting to glare at him in a manner similar to Lightning]...but that doesn't really matter since he's going to be your fiance for just about the entire story after another chapter or so. And roll the disclaimer and start the chapter!_**

 _ **I do not own anything from any Spider-Man or Final Fantasy franchises or any other franchise mentioned in this story.**_

* * *

 **Chapter 2: Welcome to Bodhum**

Lightning awoke bright and early the next morning, slightly earlier than she normally did despite how sure she had been last night that she would likely end up sleeping in a little bit considering how late she had gotten home last night, and after rubbing a few last vestiges of drowsiness out of her system, her mind immediately flashed back to the events that had transpired the previous night; most notably, the events pertaining to her newest houseguest. At remembering that little tidbit, Lightning immediately sprang from her bed in the hopes of getting him up so that they could come up with some sort of believable story to tell Serah. The last thing she needed was for her sister to think that she had brought home a crazy person and let him sleep in their house, but when she arrived in the room where she had left Peter the night before, she was surprised to see that he was already gone, and the only sign of him being there was the blanket that she had let him use, which was neatly folded on the couch.

 _'Well, at least he isn't a slob, but I kind of thought he would have at least stuck around long enough to at least say goodbye before taking off,'_ Lightning mused to herself before she set to work to fix breakfast for herself. Serah may have been the better cook between the two Farron sisters, but Lightning did not need good cooking skills in order to fix a simple bowl of cereal and some toast.

Just as she was reaching for the bowls, she found herself pausing when a cheerful voice suddenly called out, "Morning Sis!"

Turning to the speaker, Lightning could not help but let a ghost of a smile cross her face when she laid eyes on her sister, who seemed to be much more cheerful than she had been for the past few days now. Like Peter had said last night, Serah did indeed look a bit like Lightning, aside from the fact that her eyes were a darker shade of blue and the fact that she wore her pink hair in a ponytail on the left side of her head while Lightning's hair draped over her left shoulder naturally. Serah was also decked out in her usual attire for the day already, much like Lightning was, which consisted of a red plaid-pleated skirt lined with black lace, a white sleeveless dress shirt, a semi-transparent pink sweeper, black thigh-high stockings, ivory ankle boots, and an extra hair tie on her left wrist. Other things that could be noted about Serah's appearance was that she wore a black armband on her right bicep like her sister does, and a pair of cat-shaped earrings that represented her boyfriend's little gang of friends. Lightning could not help but also note that Serah had started wearing a bandage on her left bicep recently, but she figured that if the reason she was wearing it was something serious, Serah would tell her about it.

"Morning Serah," Lightning nodded in return. "You're up early."

"Yeah. I wanted to get an early start today," Serah shrugged in response. "Plus, I was kinda hoping to see you before you headed off to work today."

Lightning could not help but feel guilty at hearing this. She had been spending a lot more time at work lately and ended up not being able to make much time for her sister. She may have joined the Guardian Corps to support them both, but there was not much point in doing so when she did not spare any time to spend with her only living family. Add in the fact that this also served to remind her of the last thing she talked to Peter about last night, and Lightning could not help but feel a little more sad about it. "Sorry. I guess I haven't been around all that much lately," Lightning finally said after a minute as her sister started to gather some things together in order to set the table for breakfast.

"Hey, it's alright, Sis. I know how important your job is, and besides, you wouldn't be the best soldier in the Guardian Corps if not ever if you weren't so focused on your job," Serah gently argued with an understanding smile. This was something that Lightning always admired and envied about her sister; no matter what happened she was always so forgiving that Lightning was sure that she could make the vilest of human beings turn over a new leaf just by talking with them. Of course, there were some things about Serah that Lightning did not like at all, and one of those things was the mischievous smile that had just crossed her face when she turned to face her. "Of course, I also wanted to talk to you about something pretty important. Namely a certain guy that I saw sleeping on the couch last night," Serah revealed, her tone already falling into the teasing zone.

Lightning immediately knew where her sister was going with this, and figured it would be better to shut it down before it got too far. "He's just someone who got hurt trying to stop a crook from hurting a bystander, and I brought him here to patch him up. Afterwards, he told me he had nowhere else to go or any money on him, so I figured I just let him stay for the night."

"Well, that was certainly nice of you, but you didn't really need to jump right to the defensive like that, Light," Serah remarked, her smile going from teasing to knowing in an instant.

"I'm not being defensive about anything," Lightning insisted.

"Sure, whatever you say," Serah shrugged, but it was obvious she did not really buy that. "So, where is he now anyway? You didn't already kick him out did you?"

Lightning rolled her eyes a little at Serah's remark and said, "Peter was already gone by the time I woke up. I don't know where he is."

Serah had to smirk a little when she asked, "So his name's Peter? I thought you said he was just a random guy. You never mentioned that you learned his name."

Lightning had to bite back a small curse at that slip up, but before she could say anything, the two sisters heard a knock at their door. Lightning's face had quickly scrunched up in confusion, since they did not really have company all that often as far as she knew, let alone this early in the day, but her expression immediately fell into a small scowl when she saw how Serah's face lit up a little in excitement. "That's Snow at the door, isn't it," Lightning asked, though from her tone, it did not really sound like a question.

"It might be," Serah admitted. "He told me last night that he would be coming by with breakfast for us today, so please try to be nice."

"…No promises," Lightning shrugged, knowing that there was not much she could do it about it at this point.

Serah knew that it was wise to take what she could get when it came to her sister in regards to her boyfriend, so she nodded in acceptance and quickly raced to answer the door. When she opened it, she was indeed greeted with the sight of someone carrying some bags of food, but it was not her rather massive-sized boyfriend. Instead, it was someone that seemed to be closer to Lightning's age with brown hair and eyes, and from what she could see, he was decked out in clothes that she knew had belonged to her late father. A very specific set of clothes that she had actually noticed were being worn by their houseguest from last night, which instantly told her who this person at the door really was.

"Oh, uh hi. I'm guessing you're Lightning's sister," Peter greeted.

"Yep, that's me. I'm Serah," the younger Farron nodded.

"Peter Parker. I'd shake your hand, but my own hands are kinda full at the moment," Peter nodded in return as she indicated the bags he was currently carrying.

"Here, let me help you with those," Serah offered.

"No, it's okay. I've got it," Peter insisted. "Uh…is it okay if I come in?"

"You don't even need to ask. You are still a guest after all," Serah said as she allowed Peter in.

Peter nodded in thanks and walked in, careful to make sure he did not let any of the bags slip from his grasp, while also noting how Lightning was staring at him in surprise. She had realized it was him the moment she heard his voice, and for some reason, she had felt compelled to come over and see him as her sister allowed him in. Of course, she had figured that it was most likely because she did not want Peter to be caught up in Serah's teasing and end up saying something that he should not, but so far, it seemed like he was doing alright. Still, that did not answer the big question. "What are you doing here," Lightning finally asked as Peter set the bags down.

"Uh, you pretty much insisted that I spend the night, remember," Peter replied.

"No, I mean, what are you doing with all of this," Lightning clarified, indicating the bags that Peter had just deposited as she did.

"Oh that," Peter realized. "Well I wanted to say thanks again for helping me out, so I figured I'd make breakfast. Then I remembered the reason why my aunt had pretty much banned me from the kitchen at home and figured that I'd be better off going out for something instead."

"But how did you pay for it? You don't have any money," Lightning reminded him.

"Yeah…I _kinda_ forgot about that until after I was at the register," Peter sheepishly admitted, eliciting a sigh of disbelief from Lightning and a light giggle from Serah. "Thankfully the guy behind me was nice enough to help me out. I tried to tell him that I would pay him back, but he just told me not to worry about it and some other stuff about how heroes always help people out, no matter what the problem was, or something like that."

Lightning's heart sank a little at that last bit, because she had a pretty good idea who it was that had helped Peter like that, and her suspicions were likely going to be proven one way or the other in just a few moments when another knock at the door sounded. This time when Serah answered it, her face lit up like the sun at the sight of the large, blonde haired man with a slight stubble standing in the doorway. The giant man was decked out in a white trench coat, black vest over a blue shirt, large grey boots, black bandanna and gloves, and a blue scarf on his belt, while a cat pendant hung from a chain around his neck. "Hey, how's the most amazing girl on Cocoon this morning," the man greeted with a cheerful smile and a loud voice.

"Morning Snow," Serah happily laughed as she hugged him in greeting before pulling him inside with her.

Snow just laughed along with Serah while he made sure to not let the bags he was carrying hit the walls on the way in, and upon entering the kitchen, he immediately registered that Lightning was there along with someone else as well. "Well hey, fancy meeting you here. If I'd known you were going to be heading here, I would've asked you to wait up so I could tag along," Snow waved in greeting to Peter.

"Well to be fair, it's not like either one of us really knew each other or that we were heading for the same place," Peter pointed out, while Lightning just groaned in annoyance at the fact her suspicions were confirmed.

"True enough," Snow chuckled. "Anyways, how about a proper introduction this time. My name's Snow Villiers, leader of NORA and the man lucky enough to be Serah Farron's boyfriend."

"And still be breathing," Lightning muttered under her breath.

If anyone had noticed Lightning's comment, they did not pay it much mind, as Peter just exchanged a handshake with the larger man, who he had earlier thought would probably have fit right in with the same crowd that his former bully turned friend, Flash Thompson ran with until the guy helped him out. "Peter Parker. Nice to officially meet you."

As they shook hands Snow ended up wincing a little as he said, "Whoa, you got quite a strong grip for such a skinny guy, Pete."

"Uh, yeah, I get that a lot, actually," Peter replied as he quickly relinquished his grasp, having only just realized he had unintentionally added a bit of his spider-strength in to make sure that his hand was not crushed in Snow's grip.

"Well I guess that just means I should try to avoid ever picking a fight with you," Snow joked, earning a laugh out of Serah and Peter, while Lightning just smirked a little at the thought of Peter actually beating up Snow like he had the thugs from last night. "So, now that we're done with the meet-and-greet, how about we all enjoy the meal that us guys brought over? After all, Lightning does still have work, last time I checked."

At that reminder, Lightning quickly felt a bit of panic rising in her, leading her to quickly excuse herself and Peter for a moment and then pull him aside to a point where they would be out of earshot of the couple for a moment so long as they kept their voices down. "What," Peter asked while he rubbed his now sore arm. Snow may have said that he had a strong grip, but he was pretty sure that Lightning would have torn his arm off if it were not for his spider powers.

"You know full well what," Lightning hissed in reply. "You can't exactly go around talking to just anyone when you technically don't exist. We need to set you up with a fake ID or something, and do a number of other things, some of which may very likely cause me to lose my job!"

"I'm not going out to get my driver's license, Lightning. I'm just having breakfast with you, your sister, and Snow," Peter reminded her.

"That doesn't mean that they won't ask questions. All three of us have lived in Bodhum our whole lives, so we all know how to tell who's a local and who's just a tourist, especially in Snow's case since he and his little gang run a beachside restaurant and bar, so they see both all the time! They're going to know in an instant you're not from here, so what're we supposed to tell them?"

Peter had to try very hard to suppress his chuckles at Lightning's little moment of panic, but once he had managed to keep them down, he looked her straight in the eye and said, "Lightning, relax. As the man who had earned the title of _the_ super spy in my world and quite a few others have often said, 'This ain't my first rodeo, kid.' I've already got it all figured out, so just play along and try not to do anything that would blow the story."

Lightning scowled at Peter once again for his last remark, but it was also because of how he tried to make his voice sound deeper when he said that quote. In the end though, she found she had no other options but to trust whatever plan Peter had come up with since she did have to run through the rest of her morning routine and eat breakfast before she headed out for work, and allowed him to lead them both back to the kitchen where they found Snow and Serah trying to hide a pair of knowing smirks that were clearly cast in their direction. _'This is going to be a long breakfast,'_ Lightning thought to herself with a tired sigh.

* * *

She had known all along that introducing Peter to Snow would be like entering a living nightmare, but so far, it was not turning out to be as bad as Lightning had expected. It turned out, that Peter and Snow had both had the same thought when they got breakfast for themselves and the Farron sisters, as they had both gotten some cinnamon rolls and one other item, Peter's being bagels while Snow's was doughnuts. Anyone who knew the two sisters knew that they both really liked cinnamon rolls, but what no one expected was Lightning to get really worked up and excited when the two guys mentioned that they had gotten the treat. Naturally, the tough-as-nails soldier felt pretty embarrassed by her rather child-like outburst of excitement, and just turned away after shooting everyone a death glare that dared them to make fun of her for it. None of them did, but that was only the first part of things.

What followed afterwards was Snow and Peter basically forming a quick bromance over a shared feeling of wanting to do anything they could to help out others, even if their methods were vastly different. Snow's way was basically fight whoever was threatening the innocent, while Peter made it seem like he just wanted to do it through science only, almost as though he did not ever once think about fighting bad guys in his life, a fact that Lightning knew full well was not true. The two were easily exchanging terrible jokes with one another, and even laughing at said jokes, with Serah joining in at some points, and there were times when Peter had tried to drag her into it by saying that he had seen her smile at one joke. Of course, Lightning had always protested against it and said that she had done no such thing, and Peter always let up after she raised a fist as a silent threat to punch him once again. Oddly enough, Lightning somehow knew the entire time that it probably would have been ten times worse if Peter and Snow had met while the former was Spider-Man.

Finally, they came around to the big topics that had Lightning worried in the first place, and it was not really much of a surprise that Snow was the one to bring it up. "So, how about you tell us a bit about yourself, Peter? Not every day that Lightning brings someone over to her place to bandage them up and let them stay the night, let alone someone who's new to Bodhum," the giant of a man remarked.

"Well there's not that much to tell, really," Peter shrugged nonchalantly.

"Aw, come on, there's gotta be something. How about you tell us where you're from as a starting point," Snow offered.

"Well, I'm from a really small town, and to say that it was out of the way would be putting it mildly. We're so far off the beaten track that you most likely won't find it on any maps," Peter said.

"Is that why you came to Bodhum? So you could see more of the world or something," Serah asked.

"Not exactly. To be honest, my coming here was not really something I had planned on. Actually, I kinda fell way behind on my rent, and my landlord, who was a total tool, basically kicked me out and onto a train for it before I could grab any of my stuff. I really had no clue where it was heading until it stopped at the station late last night," Peter replied. One thing he had learned over the years while being Spider-Man was that a lie could always become a little more believable if you were to mix some truth into it.

"That's terrible," Serah gasped in shock, while Snow just growled angrily as he pounded his fist into the palm of his other hand. "Did you at least get a chance to call your family and tell them about all of this? I'm sure that your parents or someone would want to know about what happened."

"Actually, I never really knew my parents. They had to leave on a business trip when I was really young, and they died on the flight over to their destination. I ended up being raised by my aunt and uncle on my dad's side ever since then, at least until my uncle was killed by a burglar when I was fifteen," Peter revealed. The minute he had said that, Lightning found herself remembering what had happened after she had learned that last night, and she could not help but feel a rising amount of sympathy and a strange kind of kinship with Peter after hearing about it once again.

Clearly Snow and Serah felt the same way, as looks of sorrow had crossed their faces that Lightning had seen on her sister's face many times as well as her own when she looked in the mirror back when she was younger. "Sorry to hear about that, dude," Snow said, breaking the somber silence that had fallen over them. "If it helps, I can kinda relate. I never knew my parents either. I was raised in a Sanctum facility and grew up with a couple of friends of mine being the closest thing to siblings I ever had. At least you had some family, right?"

"Yeah Peter, you're not alone in that regard. I don't know if Lightning told you this or not, but we both lost our parents too. Our father died when I was really young, and then we lost our mother to an unknown illness when I was only twelve. Lightning and I are the only the family each of us has left now, so we've learned to depend on each other to get through everything," Serah then added.

"Thanks you guys," Peter nodded. "You don't really have to worry about it though. All of it happened a long time ago."

"You should still call your aunt and let her know what's happened. Maybe she can send you some money or something," Lightning interrupted, hoping to get away from the depressing conversation while also keeping up appearances so that Snow and Serah would not catch on to the fact that Peter was making a lot of this up.

"I would but I can't for a few reasons. First off, I kinda lost my phone after I got into town, and second, even if I could get in touch with her, I wouldn't ask Aunt May for money anyways. Even when Uncle Ben was still alive, they weren't what you would call financial wizards. To be honest, there are days when I think that they had to decide which bills they could afford to put off just so they could pay for my school tuitions. After losing Uncle Ben, it didn't get any easier and I pretty much ended up doing whatever I could to help out," Peter easily stated.

"Kinda like me and Lightning," Serah softly mused to herself, but Lightning still heard her, partially because she had been thinking the same thing.

"Well don't worry about it. I'll do everything I can to help you out and make sure you can get a good start here in Bodhum, Peter," Snow promised with a smile.

"You mean _we_ will make sure he can get a good start in Bodhum, right Sis," Serah corrected, looking to Lightning for confirmation.

Lightning just looked to her sister and then the two men that they were sharing breakfast with until she finally just nodded and said, "Yeah, that's right."

"Thanks you guys," Peter nodded gratefully.

After that point, they all fell into much more pleasant conversation, except for Lightning who remained silent while discreetly staring at Peter. She was not sure how much of what he had said was rehearsed and how much was the actual truth, but she did know that he had somehow managed to sell the whole story without giving any indication to the two that not all of it was the truth. More than that, he had kept it as simple as possible without revealing too many exact details, and never once said anything that would make anyone want to look any further into what he had said for some reason. Even when he mentioned how his landlord was a jerk, he had been quick to draw them away from that and onto a different subject entirely. Granted it was not a topic that she wanted to hear again, and it probably was not one he enjoyed talking about too much, but the fact that he had done all of that was impressive.

Of course, there was one other thing she had noticed as Peter had shared his story though. Despite how he said he had learned to deal with the loss he had endured in his life, she could still see a look of hidden sorrow in his eyes that he had somehow managed to mask behind a friendly attitude and an easy-going smile. Seeing all of that instantly told her that Peter was actually a lot more like her than she first gave him credit for. They had both suffered some form of loss, but unlike her, he did not choose to deal with the pain by becoming cold, standoffish, and distant in an effort to become stronger like she had. Instead, he chose to try and deal with the worst of his pain and then hide whatever remained of it behind a smile and some bad jokes. A part of her could not help but wonder if his life as Spider-Man had something to do with helping him cope with the pains of his past, much like how her becoming "Lightning" had for her, but she could not really think on it for long because it was at that point she realized that Serah was trying to get her attention.

"What is it," Lightning asked.

"Well, don't you still have to get ready for work," Serah asked.

Glancing at the clock, Lightning saw that Serah was right, and she was now running too far behind her usual morning schedule for her liking. Realizing this, Lighting quickly finished up the rest of her breakfast and scrambled to get her things together in an effort to make sure she would not be late. It would be extremely embarrassing if she was late for the first time since she had become a soldier. She had to skip out on parts of her morning routine though, but she did manage to grab a shower and change into her uniform with some time to spare before she had to head out the door. Just as she was about to leave, she heard Snow calling out to her, much to her irritation, and she immediately turned to face him.

"Listen, since you're going to be busy, Serah and I figured we'd take Pete on a tour of Bodhum and also get him some new threads while we're at it," the blonde offered. "I know you would probably want to do it yourself and all, since you were the one who first helped him out, so that's why I figured it would be a good idea to run it by you first."

As much as she hated to say it, even in her mind, Snow was right. She did want to do whatever she could to help Peter get his feet on the ground in Bodhum, but at the same time, she could not really afford to take much time off work to do it. She had already planned on putting in a request for some leave time so that she could spend her birthday with Serah, and if she were to request anymore time off just to help some random stranger she had run into one night, it would make it seem like she was getting too tired or lazy, something she absolutely hated to for anyone to ever think. The downsides to Snow's offer would be that Peter might end up meeting the rest of the NORA crew, or even be persuaded to join them, especially if they found out his secret, but aside from that, Lightning could not really think of any problems with letting him help Peter. Besides with Serah going with them, there was a chance that nothing too bad could happen, and she could also see how this could help her understand why her sister was dating Snow in the first place. In the end, Lightning saw no real reason to do anything but agree to let them do this, much to Snow and Serah's pleasure and Peter's relief, and with that, she holstered her trusted gunblade and headed out for the day, hoping that nothing too bad would happen to the newly formed trio as they carried out their task.

* * *

"I'm starting to think this might've been a mistake," Peter stated later that afternoon as he followed Snow and Serah out of the most recent stop on their tour. This one being the third clothes store they had been to in the past few hours alone. "Seriously, I'm pretty sure that we've now gotten me at least twice the amount of clothes I actually need. Hell, I'm pretty sure that this is more outfits than I've ever owned for most of my life."

"Oh don't be ridiculous. We're just making sure you're prepared for anything," Serah insisted.

"Is that why you insisted on getting me several nice suits that I would most likely never wear since I don't normally go to places that require you to dress up that nicely," Peter asked.

"As a matter of fact, it is," Serah nodded proudly. "Trust me; someday you'll thank me for this."

Before Peter could argue any further, Snow clapped him on the shoulder and said, "Just give it up, Pete. When it comes to Serah, there's no winning an argument in regards to something she's incredibly passionate about or firmly set on. She's actually pretty stubborn like that, and she says that Lightning is even worse."

"Yeah, I noticed that," Peter muttered, thinking back to a couple of moments from last night. He then had to smirk a little at the larger man and asked, "Although, with the way you say that, it sounds like she's got you whipped."

If Snow was offended by that, then he did not show it at all, because he just laughed and rested both hands behind his head in response while saying, "Well if that is the case, then I'm not complaining. Serah's the best thing to ever happen to me, and there's no way I'm going to let anything come between that."

"…You really care a lot about her, don't you Snow," Peter observed. Of course, he did not really need to say that, because he could tell just from the gentle, loving look in Snow's eyes as he was looking at Serah just now. After all, it was a look he once had for someone a long time ago.

"Yeah, I do," Snow confirmed. "Before I met Serah, I was always alone. Sure, I had my pals Gadot and Lebreau, but aside from that, it was usually just me on my own, and I was okay with that. But then I met Serah, and I found out that there was something better than being alone: being with her. I'd do anything to be with her, even if it meant taking on the whole world, or having to go behind her sister's back if necessary. Of course, I'd rather not do the latter of those things, seeing as Lightning could and would kill me if I did, and Serah really respects her sister's decisions and opinions on a lot of things, so I guess you could say I'm going to do whatever I can to prove to Lightning that I'm the guy for Serah, even if I have to do it forever." The two men just continued walking in silence for a minute, letting everything that Snow said sink in, until the big guy suddenly let out a small laugh. "Sorry, I didn't mean to go off like that."

"Hey, don't worry about it. There's nothing wrong with expressing your feelings for the woman you love, dude," Peter reassured him. "You really should do that every chance you have while you can, because you never know when they won't be around anymore."

That got Snow's attention, and he could only think of one reason why Peter would say something like that. "Was there anyone special in your life back home, Peter?"

"…Yeah, a long time ago," Peter finally said after a minute. "Her name was Gwen, short for Gwendolyn, and she was everything to me. It's pretty much the same old story you've heard a million times before: a boy and a girl meet and become best friends when they're little, the two grow up together doing pretty much everything, and then one day, the boy and the girl start developing feelings for each other that go beyond friendship and start going out together. Those were some of the best years of my life."

"Sounds like she was really something," Snow complimented, while Serah smiled in agreement, having started listening in the moment she heard him ask Peter about the topic. "Mind telling me about her?"

"Well…she was incredibly smart," Peter began, his eyes shining in fond remembrance as he recalled the memories of his first true love. "She and I were actually tied for being the brightest students of our year in high school, and she actually managed to be beat me out for valedictorian by one point or so. Not to mention she was crazy beautiful. On our prom night, I had told her that she looked like an angel, but the truth was, she was even more gorgeous than that because she looked like an angel on a daily basis by default. Of course, you wouldn't want to argue with her or get on her bad side, because if you did, she would automatically shut you down with what we had all come to affectionately call _the look_. The best thing about her though, the thing that really made Gwen special, was that she was always there for her friends when they needed her, and she was always ready to help someone if she could. I kinda figured that was partially because her father was the local police captain, though."

"Whoa, dated a policeman's daughter? Sounds like you've got some pretty big guts, Peter, even if you did know her for years before you dated," Snow praised.

Serah could not help but laugh a little and playfully roll her eyes at Snow's words when she heard them, but that still did not explain why Peter had made that comment earlier, or why he sounded like he was recalling something with a great deal of sadness as he described this Gwen person to them. She figured it was probably because he did not really get a chance to say goodbye to her before he left for Bodhum, but she did not want to just leave it at guesswork. Thankfully, it seemed that Snow had the same idea as her, because he then asked, "So what happened to her?"

Peter seemed to freeze up a bit at that question, causing both Snow and Serah to stop in their tracks and look to him to see what was wrong. Before they could ask, they both registered a rather depressing aura had started to slowly form around Peter, but left as quickly as it came as Peter quietly said, "Sorry Snow, but…I don't really want to talk about it. It's not really a pleasant subject for me, even if it did happen a while back."

Snow took the hint and immediately just nodded in understanding, but Serah did not want to just leave it there. She was about to ask Peter to tell them about it, but a small look from Snow was all the reason she needed to leave it alone for the moment. That did not mean she was going to leave it alone forever though. For now, they needed to do something to help cheer Peter up from the sudden bout of sadness that had befallen him, and Serah knew the perfect thing for that. "Hey Snow, why don't we head over to where Lebreau works so we can introduce her to Peter? Maybe if we're lucky, the rest of NORA will be there too."

"Great idea! Trust me Pete, you'll love meeting the guys," Snow encouraged, nodding to Serah in thanks for that as he clapped Peter on the back.

Peter smiled in thanks to both of them for what they were doing, and let them lead on to their next destination, and their next moment of meet and greet. Just as they were reaching the main road though, that old familiar tingling sensation that Peter knew to be his Spider-Sense started ringing out, and he was immediately pulling Snow and Serah aside just before they were all run over by a number of speeding hover bikes and a large truck that were racing past, with what looked like members of the Guardian Corp and the cops hot on their tails. Peter was not able to get all of them clear fast enough though, as one of the men on the bike passed close enough to them and suddenly grabbed Serah so that he could pull her onto the back of the bike with him, giving himself a hostage.

"SERAH," Snow shouted in horror, and he immediately started racing after the ones who had nearly ran them over on foot with Peter close behind. They did not go very far though, because a couple of seconds later, a truck pulled up alongside them, upon which Snow saw the rest of his friends.

"Hey Boss, need a lift," the flaming haired man that Snow knew as his best friend Gadot called out.

"Perfect timing you guys. We've gotta move fast though. One of those creeps grabbed Serah while he was passing by," Snow nodded. Everyone in NORA all became much more serious upon hearing that, and no one argued when Snow jumped into the driver's seat of their vehicle. The blonde then turned to his newest companion and said, "Peter, wait here while I help deal with this. I'll be back before you know it."

"Hold up! You do have a plan right," Peter asked.

"Please. Heroes don't need plans," Snow scoffed, and with that he and his pals were soon off as well, leaving Peter on his own.

Peter had to admit that Snow was certainly brave charging in like that without any regard for his own safety, but the fact that he was doing so without even the smallest bit of a solid plan had him really worried. Even if that was not the case, he would not have had any intention of staying put like Snow had asked, so after a quick glance around the area, he found a nearby alley to duck into, and then made slung out a web-sack to hold all their shopping in until he got back, and then leapt up to the roof of the building while discarding his borrowed clothes, revealing his spider-suit underneath once he had. "Sorry Snow, but the newest hero in Bodhum doesn't just sit on the sidelines when there's trouble, especially when his friends are caught up in it," Peter remarked once he had slipped his gloves on and secured everything he would not be taking with him in the web-sack. Upon pulling out his mask and sliding it on over his head, Peter took off into the sky-line and stated, "Time for Bodhum to officially meet the new friendly neighborhood hero on the block."

* * *

Serah had panicked a little when she was first grabbed, because really, who would not, but she had quickly gotten over it and started trying to fight her way out of the grasp of the thug who had grabbed her. Probably not her brightest idea given that they were racing through the streets at high speeds, but she was not going to let herself be taken hostage like this and not fight back. Admittedly, most of her fighting was just hitting her captor in the face or slapping him as hard as she could, but she was still fighting all the same. After a minute though, she spotted Snow and the rest of NORA following after them, and she could have sworn that she caught a glimpse of Lightning on one of the Guardian Corp transports that were chasing this thug and his friends, and her brief pause did not lead to anything good.

"Hey, speed it up will you! Or do you want to be caught," one of the other thugs told Serah's captor as he pulled up alongside them.

"Hey, this girl isn't really making it easy to keep my eyes on the road," said captor shouted back.

"Well then either get the bitch under control or toss her out like dead weight."

"With pleasure," was the last thing that Serah heard her captor say before she was roughly shoved off of the bike and into the middle of the street. She barely had anytime to scramble to her feet before she was rolling and ducking to avoid the incoming vehicles that would have hit her otherwise, but she could not do so forever, and she soon found her vision filled with a large truck that was hitting the brakes as hard as it could in an attempt to stop before it hit her. She instantly closed her eyes, crying out for either her sister, Snow, or just anyone to come and save her before it was too late. Just when it seemed her prayers would not be answered, an unexpected miracle happened.

"Heads up! Watch out! Pardon me! Hold tight! We're outta here," someone shouted rapidly as she suddenly felt herself wrapped in someone's arms while they rolled out of the way with her, followed by a strange sound she did not recognize. The next thing she knew, she was suddenly flying through the air as her rescuer spun around with her held tightly in his arms until she felt the ground beneath her feet again. "Phew. And that right there is why they say you shouldn't go playing in the street," the same person jovially remarked.

It was at that point that Serah finally deemed it safe enough to open her eyes again, and once she had she turned her gaze to her savior and was met with a very odd sight indeed. There, standing before her, was a man who stood at a height that probably surpassed her sister's by a couple of inches or so, decked out in an odd, red and blue outfit with a large, white spider on his chest, and webs stretching across the red portions of his suit. Looking at his face allowed Serah to only see the red mask with white, reflective lenses for eyes. "What…who…" Serah stuttered, honestly too stunned to really speak properly at the moment.

"Sorry, as much as I'd love to hear you shower me with thanks, I've gotta get going. Still gotta catch those guys who're making a mess of the roadway, putting people in danger, and who have most likely done a lot of other illegal or just flat out wrong things by now, you know. A hero's work is never done," the masked man said as he stepped away from Serah and then pointed his arm off towards the sky while his fingers folded into his hand in a way that made it look like he was throwing out the universal sign for rock on. Upon doing so, a stream of what seemed to be a thin, white line shot out of his hand, and he then used it to pull himself up into the air before he repeated the process multiple times over to try and catch up with the escaping criminals right before Serah's astonished eyes.

"Serah," the young woman heard Snow's voice shouting, jumping her out of her shock and diverting her attention to her boyfriend just as he and the rest of NORA pulled up. Snow immediately jumped down and wrapped her in his arms as he sighed in relief. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Serah reassured her boyfriend. "Did you see that guy just now?"

"You mean the one who pulled you to safety? Yeah, we did," Snow nodded. "Do you know him?"

"No, but he said he was going to go after the guys who grabbed me," Serah informed him.

"Well we can't let some rookie newcomer hog all the work," Gadot stated.

Snow just nodded in agreement and climbed back into the truck with Serah joining the others in the back. As he accelerated forward, Snow thought to himself, _'It's not just about helping out. We've gotta catch up with them so I can have a few words with that guy.'_

* * *

 _'Okay, save Serah, check. Catch up with the criminals who put her in danger in the first place, check, check. Help stop these idiots before anyone else gets hurt…uh, work in progress,'_ Spider-Man thought to himself as he ran and web-zipped along the rooftops in order to keep up with the still-fleeing criminals. As he was leaping to the next roof, he caught sight of a flash of pink that he knew was not Serah, and upon looking back to make sure he had not imagined things, he had to smirk a little bit. _'Looks like I'm gonna get to show Lightning a few more reasons why I'm so amazing. Hope she enjoys a good show, because this kind of thing is a walk in the park for me.'_

After quickly analyzing the situation one last time, Spider-Man swung into action, starting with the closest biker, who just happened to be the same one that had grabbed Serah earlier. _'As much as I would love to draw this out, there are other guys to deal with on other bikes, and one big likely stolen truck as well,'_ Peter commented to himself, and he quickly pulled the biker off his airbike and threw him back into a web that he quickly spun out to prevent him from hitting the ground or getting away. Spider-Man then leaped off the now-driverless vehicle and spun out another quick web to catch the bike before it crashed into the middle of the road. _'Okay, one down,'_ Spidey mentally noted as he spun around and pulled himself towards the remaining criminals and their vehicles on a web, and he then repeated the same process with the other bikers and their bikes in a variety of different ways.

From where they were watching, many of the cops and Guardian Corp soldiers that were chasing after the criminals found themselves gasping a little at the display of skill and power that this masked man was throwing out, some to the point where they were even cheering him on a little, and the members of NORA were soon cheering for the web-head as well. Among those cheering however, only Lightning remained neutral at the display as she watched Spider-Man work with narrow eyes. _'So he's not just good in a random street brawl, and it does seem like he has something that you could call skill in what he does. Still, he really shouldn't be showcasing his abilities like this, even if he is hiding his identity with that ridiculous costume. Someone might get the wrong idea about him,'_ Lightning noted to herself as she watched.

All cheering suddenly came to a stop when the chase made its way onto a bridge, and the truck started ramming into the other cars, forcing some of them over the side, much to their horror. Spider-Man had took notice of what was going to happen even before the first car had started to tip over the side, and he immediately leapt into the air to throw out a web-line to catch it and make sure that it would not go over the side or fall into the water below if it did. After doing this at least four more times, he began to get a little more frustrated with the driver of this truck and even more determined to stop him. The only problem he could see with that at the moment was that he would have to get in front of the driver as quickly as possible, and the best way to do that was currently unavailable to him since he could not see anything he could properly web-swing from. That is, until he spotted a structure that was just tall enough for the job, and he did not hesitate to fire his web shooter at it. _'Please work,'_ Peter mentally prayed. When the web struck its target, Peter leapt into the air and into a mighty swing that catapulted him right in front of the truck. _'YES! Thank you,'_ Spider-Man cheered in his head as he dismounted the web and landed in front of it.

After landing, Spider-Man quickly shot a stream of webs into some of the wheels, causing them to be completely stopped and forcing the truck to uncontrollably turn onto its side and skid across the ground. When the truck had crashed onto its side, Spider-Man spun around again and fired a pair of webs at the strongest structures on either side of them, and held onto them as tightly as he could after the truck collided with his back. The blow did not really hurt that much, but even if it did, Spider-Man was more focused on digging his feet into the ground and keeping his hold on the webs so that he could prevent it from crashing into anything in front of it. He could hear some people screaming as they raced to get out of the way, but he still held fast and pushed back, until finally he brought the overturned vehicle come to a halt. Spidey then released his hold on the webs, letting them drop to the ground before he jumped up onto the side of the truck, where he could see the driver loading up a gun as he scrambled to climb out.

"Looks like this is the end of the road for you, pal," Spider-Man said as he webbed the door shut from the outside. Before he could do anything else, he heard someone shouting from just a little ways back on the bridge.

"HEY! HEY SOMEBODY HELP! MY KID IS TRAPPED," a black man with a large afro and decked out in tan pants, a white shirt, and a green jacket shouted while waving at one of the vehicles that were hanging off of the bridge by a web-line.

Spider-Man cursed under his breath at this, and then turned to the truck driver, who was now futilely trying to break the sealed door open and get out and said, "Don't go anywhere. I'll be right back after I help clean up more of the mess you made." The web-head then leapt up into the air and over the side of the bridge where he quickly swung over to the vehicle that he saw the man indicating. Upon landing on the back of the vehicle, which he noticed looked a little like a military vehicle, Spider-Man used a short web-line to pull out the back windshield, and looked inside to see a small boy who looked a bit like the man on the bridge crying out in fear. "Hey, hey, calm down! It's okay! I'm gonna get you out," Spider-Man tried to reassure the kid, but it did not seem like he was having much success. Deciding that he did not have much time to waste, Spider-Man immediately pulled his mask up just enough for the kid to see his face and called out, "Hey, look! See, I'm just a normal guy. A normal guy who really doesn't want to see you swimming with the fishes, but a normal guy all the same."

Seeing Peter's face just then got the kid to calm down a little, and after a minute or so, Peter saw a small smile form on his face. Seeing that the kid was now calm, Peter slid his mask back down into its original position and slowly crawled into the vehicle until he was right next to the kid. "What's your name, kiddo," Spidey asked once he was right next to the small child, who he noticed seemed to have an odd-looking mark on his right hand.

"Dajh," the boy replied.

"Well Dajh, what do you say we get you out of here and back to your dad, alright," Spidey asked in a gentle voice. When Dajh nodded in reply, Peter moved over so that he had one arm wrapped around the kid while his free hand grasped the seatbelt. "Alright, I want you to hold onto me for a bit. I'm gonna undo the belt on the count of three, okay?" Another nod was followed by Dajh wrapping an arm around Spider-Man. "Alright, ready? One…two…three!"

A small use of spider-strength was all that was needed to release the seatbelt around Dajh, and the boy immediately fell into Spidey's waiting arm the minute it was completely undone. "There, you see? Nothing to it; good job," Spidey said, and he then carefully lifted Dajh up so that he was able to wrap his little arms around Peter's neck. "Alright, now this is the more fun part, but if it's too scary for you, you can close your eyes, okay?"

"What're you going to do," Dajh asked.

"I'm going to fire a web-line up to the bridge and pull us up. It's going to be really fast though, so like I said, you can close your eyes if you want to, but don't worry. It's actually kinda like flying," Peter explained.

"Really? Cool! My daddy flies airships all the time," Dajh exclaimed excitedly.

"Does he? Wow that is cool," Spidey exclaimed in a similar child-like manner. "Well then, I guess this won't be too different for you, will it?" Dajh just giggled in response, and Peter took that to mean that the kid was not scared anymore, so he aimed his web shooter above them and said, "Alright, ready for take-off."

* * *

Lightning was doing everything she could to help the rest of her fellow soldiers and the cops keep everyone away from the area where the stolen truck had crashed, but it was pretty clear that the man who had been shouting for someone to save his son was not going to be moving back anytime soon until he knew that his boy was safe, and due to having to help with crowd control, she ended up losing sight of Peter, so she had no way of getting him to help out if she could have. Just as she was about to curse under her breath, she heard the man shouting again, but this time, it did not sound as panicked. Turning around to where the man was standing, along with a majority of the people in the area, she ended up gasping a little when she saw Spider-Man pulling himself up onto the railing with a small boy held safely in his arms. He then handed that same boy over to the man who had been shouting for help, and the minute that he had the boy in his arms, the man immediately began letting out tears of joy as he thanked the heavens for the fact that his son was safe while Spider-Man just looked on.

The beautiful scene was quickly ruined though when someone in the crowd suddenly shouted, "Hey, that guy's getting away!"

Lightning did not need any hint as to where the civilian was looking, and upon turning to the truck, she quickly spotted the driver that had caused all of this making a run for it with a gun in one hand while the other held what she could only assume were stolen goods. Just as she was about to rush over, a sudden gust of wind blew past her, and she looked to see Spider-Man leaping over the cars to chase after the criminal, using his webbing to pull him get there faster as he did. Lightning then tore her gaze away from the web-head and back to the criminal, only to scowl a little upon seeing who was now blocking the man's escape.

"You're not going anywhere, punk," Snow growled as he cracked his knuckles.

The crook did not seem to take Snow's threat very seriously, because he just raised his gun and prepared to shoot the blonde, until it was suddenly snagged by a web-line. "I'll take that," Spider-Man jovially said as he pulled the weapon away, giving Snow a chance to hit the guy who had been leading the gang that had threatened his girlfriend. The crook stumbled under the blow, right into arm's reach of Spider-Man, who then snatched away his bag of loot as he said, "That's not yours."

The web-head then spun around and kicked the thug back towards Snow, who delivered even more punishment by landing a hard uppercut to the man's face. When the criminal was within his striking distance once again, Spider-Man performed a quick back flipped as he kicked the man back to Snow and said, "Last shot's yours if you want, big fella."

"Thanks, I'll take it," Snow grinned, and he did just that by throwing one last punch that knocked the man to the ground, where he was soon fell unconscious and was wrapped up in Spider-Man's webbing. Seeing that the crook was down, Snow turned his attention to the red and blue clad superhero with a serious look on his face and then stomped over to said hero. "Now that he's dealt with, I've got something to say to you," the larger man stated in an even tone of voice.

"Yeah? What's that," Spider-Man asked, hoping that his own voice had not wavered or gave off an impression of him not being scared when he actually was very much so. Snow may have been a friendly guy, but that did not mean that he wanted to find out what happened to someone who upset him for some reason.

After a minute silence, Snow finally grinned once again and clapped Spidey on the shoulder as he said, "Thanks for helping to save my girlfriend back there. If you ever decide you want to be a hero fulltime, you'll find an open spot for you with NORA."

"Uh…thanks. I'll keep that in mind if I ever decide to stop being a solo hero," Spidey replied. It probably should not have surprised him that Snow would say that, but it did still catch him off guard. He had seriously thought for a minute that the big guy was going to hit him or something. Not that he was scared or anything. He had fought guys just as big and even bigger than Snow plenty of times before, including the Hulk once! He was so not scared of a big, normal guy who was as friendly as Snow seemed to typically be.

"Hey, Snow," someone shouted, and the two then turned to see the rest of NORA, Lightning, Serah, and a man in a uniform that was very similar to Lightning's running over to them. "Nice work again, Hero," the obvious soldier complimented, being the one who had spoken up before, while Lightning just scowled a bit.

"Wish I could take the credit, Amodar, but it wasn't me or any of NORA this time. It was all this guy, right here," Snow stated, clapping Spider-Man on the shoulder once again as he did.

"Really," Amodar said, though he made it clear that he likely already knew that. "Saw you pulling some impressive moves out there. You saved a lot of lives today."

"Aw, no big deal. Just doing what any other honest superhero would've done, and being amazing while doing it," Spidey jokingly boasted. He then turned to leave when someone else shouted for him to wait, and he saw Dajh and his father rushing over to him.

When the man finally reached him, he gave Spider-Man a grateful look and said, "Thank you for saving my boy's life. I don't even want to think about what I would've done if I ever lost him."

Spider-Man was not expecting this at all. Sure, some people had thanked him before, but never this many people at once, and in one day, no less. The surprises just kept on coming when Dajh suddenly came up to him and waved for him to kneel down a bit, because when he did, the web-head found the boy wrapping him a tight hug. "Thanks for saving me, Mister," the little boy said.

If anyone from back home saw him right now, Peter knew that they would be making a joke about how someone had finally managed to shut him up, because he was honestly speechless. That did not mean he did not return the boy's hug, but upon letting Dajh go, he could only stop and stare as the crowd slowly but surely started to break out into applause for what he had done. Looking around, Spider-Man soon found his gaze meeting Lightning's, and while the woman was not clapping like everyone else, she did seem to have a small, hidden smirk on her face that only he had managed to pick up on. When the clapping had died down enough, Serah ended up being the one to step forward and ask, "So, who are you?"

"You already know me," Spider-Man told her.

"I do," Serah asked, drawing a questioning gaze from Snow while Lightning looked at the web-head in shock, thinking that he was actually going to reveal his identity to her just like that. Such an idea did not seem very fair in Lightning's opinion, given all that she had to do in order to get him to tell her, so to think that he might tell Serah like it was no big deal really irked the older Farron sister quite a bit. Lightning quickly stopped that train of thought when she realized it was forming, and quickly replaced it with a question of why she was really making more of a big deal out of the matter than she probably should have.

Thankfully, she was distracted from her thoughts once again when she heard Peter answer her sister's question. "Yeah; I'm your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man."

With that, Spidey leapt into the air and began zipping away on a web-line, while the crowd broke out into cheers once again, some of them even chanting his name, while Lightning let out a quiet sigh of relief for reasons beyond her knowledge. Either way, she knew that she was going to be having a few words with Peter when she got home later that day.

* * *

After getting back to where he had left the rest of his stuff and retrieving it, Peter raced a few blocks away from where Snow and Serah had left him, so that he could sell the excuse of trying to chase after them on foot. Considering he was a bit out of breath, it made more sense to meet them part way back to where Snow had left them. The two seemed to buy that, and afterwards, he found himself joining the couple and the NORA crew at a small restaurant and bar for dinner. In all honesty, Peter found that he actually kind of liked the members of NORA. They seemed like a tight-knit bunch, kinda like how he was with some of his friends in the superhero community back home, and they were all willing to step up and help out simply because they felt like they had to.

Eventually, he and Serah split off from the rest of the group so that they could get back to the Farrons' house for the night, and the entire time, Serah was regaling him with the story of what had happened after Spider-Man had shown up. Peter did not really need Serah to tell him that, but she did not need to know that, and besides, it was actually pretty nice to hear about his exploits from the perspective of another person every now and again. "…And then he jumped like six feet through the air like it was nothing before zipping away on some kind of web. I'm telling you it was amazing, seeing someone with abilities like that going out of his way to help people," Serah said excitedly as she finished her tale.

"I can only imagine. Wish I had been there to see Spidey in action again," Peter remarked.

"Wait, you mean you've seen him before," Serah asked in shock.

 _'Doh! Damn it,'_ Peter cursed to himself, having realized his slip up. He was so used to acting like Spider-Man being around was a normal thing that he forgot for a moment that this was the first time Serah or anyone on Cocoon at all had ever even seen or heard of the wall-crawler. Thankfully, he was able to improvise on the spot. "Oh yeah, I mean, I knew a guy that sounds a lot like this guy you've been telling me about back home. I actually used to take his picture for one of the local news sources all the time," Peter shrugged.

"So do you think this is the same person," Serah asked.

"Hmm…could be, but I can't say for sure until I've seen him myself," Peter shrugged. "I just took the guy's picture; I never actually knew him, let alone who he was behind the mask."

Peter could not help but hold his breath until Serah finally nodded in acceptance of his little fib. A few hours later, the two finally returned to the Farron household, where Serah tried to convince Peter it would be okay if he wanted to sleep somewhere other than the couch. Being the gentleman he had always been raised to be, Peter just insisted that he could not, in good conscience let Serah give up her room for him, and that the couch was perfectly fine, and Serah eventually found she had no choice but accept his choice. She still made sure that Peter knew that the option of sleeping somewhere else was still there if he wanted it, for which Peter did thank her before she left for her room and he made himself comfortable on the couch.

Right when Peter felt himself beginning to fall into the sweet oblivion of sleep, someone suddenly said, "If it weren't for the fact that you want to hide behind a ridiculous mask, I'd say you were some kind of crazy showboat with a dangerous adrenaline craving."

"AH," Peter screamed right when he fell off the couch and turned to see Lightning standing over both him and the furniture he was previously laying on with her arms crossed and a neutral look that could easily be mistaken for a small glare. "Geez! If it weren't for the fact you and Serah were letting me stay here for the moment, I'd swear you were trying to help those guys from earlier in trying to kill me just now," Peter joked.

Lightning just rolled her eyes as she stepped around the couch and lifted Peter up off the floor without any trouble. "And yet it didn't stop you from getting involved in something that didn't concern you once again," Lightning remarked.

"Excuse me? People were in danger and criminals were on the loose. I had the ability to help out, and I did. You don't hear anyone else complaining, do you," Peter shot back.

"No, but do you really think that's going to last. Around here, if someone can do the things that you can do, they don't normally get praised for it. They're typically rounded up, hunted, or even killed because it usually means only one thing, and it's not a good thing in the eyes of the larger public," Lightning revealed. "You should've just left it alone."

"Look the other way and pretend like it's not happening? Sorry, but I can't do that," Peter refused.

"And why the hell not? What is it that makes you think doing this 'Spider-Man' thing of yours is so important," Lightning demanded.

Peter did not answer right away, and for a moment Lightning thought she had him, until he finally did answer her with a response she did not expect. "Because I made a promise to never look the other way…not again."

"Again," Lightning asked.

Peter hesitated once again and then sighed as he revealed a very important detail about his life that he did not tell Lightning last night. "Remember when I told you that my uncle was killed when I was fifteen," he started. Lightning gave no indication one way or the other, so he just took that to mean yes and continued. "What I didn't say was that…in a way, it was my fault. You see, after I first got my powers, I didn't want to become a superhero; I wanted to use them to cash in and earn some extra money. Sure, part of it was to help out my aunt and uncle, but the rest of it was because I was being selfish. One night when I was on my way home, a crook robbed a nearby store and ran right past me. I barely even had to do anything to help stop him; I could've just stuck out my leg and tripped him, but instead, I just let him go. I figured why should I get involved? I wasn't a cop, so it wasn't any of my business."

Lightning did not say anything in response to this, because she actually agreed a little. Fighting monsters and criminals was something that should be left to well-trained soldiers and law enforcers, not some kids playing vigilante. It was actually part of the reason why she did not like Snow and his friends in NORA that much, aside from Snow's relaxed, always-happy, optimistic attitude. Somehow though, she had a feeling that Peter was about to tell her something that set him apart from that though.

"When I finally got home, the police were right outside the house, and when I walked in, I saw my aunt crying on the couch as our next door neighbors and a couple of officers tried to console her. When one of the officers saw I had come in, he told me that someone had broke in demanding that Aunt May and Uncle Ben give him the keys for the car. Uncle Ben tried to stop him, but the guy was armed and…," Peter had to pause and give himself a moment to recompose himself, but Lightning did not need him to actually say the words to know what happened. After taking a deep breath to regain himself, Peter returned to his story. "I immediately asked the officer if they had managed to track him down yet, and he told me that a squad had cornered him not far from where we lived. Once I heard that, I raced out as fast as I could, thinking that the police could have whatever was left of the scum who had stolen the life of a good man for a lousy car, because I wanted him first, and nothing was going to stop Spider-Man. When I finally cornered the man responsible though, I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw his face, because it was the same crook that had robbed the store I had passed. The one that I could've and should've stopped."

Lightning could not stop herself. The minute she heard that last part, she let out a soft gasp of surprise. To think that Peter could have saved his uncle if he had just acted before was something she had not expected to hear at all. She had no idea how she would have been able to handle it if she had been in the same position as Peter, but it seemed like he was handling it a lot better than she could have. Still, that did not mean that she could not at least say something. "You couldn't have known what would happen even if you did stop him before," she said, but given that her voice had cracked a little, she was not sure how confident her words were.

"I know that, but it doesn't change anything. I ignored the most important lesson that my uncle had ever tried to teach me, and because of that, he had to pay the price," Peter stated. "I may never forgive myself for letting Uncle Ben down, but at the very least, I can make sure that I never do so again by always living by that same philosophy he tried to teach me. That with great power, there must also come great responsibility."

There it was. There was the thing that finally did it. That was exactly what Lightning needed to hear in order to finally prove to her that unlike NORA, Peter had chosen and was still choosing to be Spider-Man for a reason beyond just simply wanting to fight monsters and keep others safe. He was Spider-Man because he wanted to keep others from suffering like he had. In a way, that made him a lot like her. Just as she had become Lightning in order to deal with the pain of her past and become strong for the sake of her sister, Peter had become someone else to help deal with his pain and become stronger for the sake of making sure no one else would suffer like he had. More than that, he clearly felt that it also served as atonement for what he considered to be his greatest mistake, and he was doing all of this by becoming Spider-Man.

It was all very impressive to be certain, but that did not mean she was going to start opening up to him any time soon. She had an image to maintain, but she did have to admit that she was glad that he opened up to her, so she had to let him know that. "I know that probably wasn't easy to say, but…thanks for telling me that," Lightning eventually said. "Looks like you're not as much of an idiot as I thought you were."

"Hey, I'll have you know I'm quite the capable scientist, thank you very much. More to the point, I graduated high school as second brightest student of my class."

"Second brightest," Lightning inquired with a knowing look.

"The one who got the top marks was…someone I really cared about," Peter revealed, hoping that Lightning would take the hint and not question him on that. He had already had to talk about Gwen once today, and after revealing that story to her, he really did not feel up to repeating any of that.

Lightning did pick up on it and immediately let it go like Peter wanted, but there was still one other matter she wanted to deal with. "Tomorrow, you're going to be going to the base with me. If you want to set up an identity for yourself, even if it is temporary, then you should at least do it using something other than a public computer."

"Uh…okay, if you say so," Peter shrugged.

"Good. Oh, and one other thing. I want to fight you," Lightning revealed.

"Excuse me," Peter asked, immediately tensing up in worry once that last sentence was spoken.

"Just a sparring match. I've seen you fighting twice now, and I want to really test just how skilled you really are, assuming you have any skills beyond those powers of yours," Lightning explained. "You can come as yourself or as Spider-Man; whatever works for you, but we will be having a sparring match tomorrow."

It was obvious that Lightning would not take no for an answer in regards to this, so Peter simply shrugged and said, "Sure, whatever you say Violet."

"Violet," Lightning questioned, taking her turn to be confused.

"Hey, you're the one who refuses to tell me her real name, so of course I'm going to start guessing," Peter shrugged with a smile.

"Well keep guessing, because my name's not Violet," Lighting scoffed.

"Well can you at least tell me if I was close? Or maybe whether or not you do share a name with a flower," Peter asked.

"No."

"Uh…no, I wasn't close, or no, you don't share a name with a flower?"

Lightning just stood up and started heading for her room. Right before she was out the door, she glanced over her shoulder and said, "Make sure you get up early tomorrow morning, because we'll need to leave a little earlier than I normally do if you want to change into your suit without Serah finding out your secret."

"Hey, wait a minute! You still haven't answered my question," Peter protested, but Lightning just resumed her trip to her room for the night. "Wait…you're totally messing with me, aren't you?! Hey! Lightning! Come on! This isn't funny, and I should know about funny! I practically invented it for heroes!"

He did not receive even the slightest indication of confirmation or denial from Lightning the whole time, and in the end, Peter just slumped back in defeat. Eventually though, he returned to his original resting position on the couch, knowing that Lightning was right to tell him that he should get his sleep, especially if she got up as early as she had this morning tomorrow. Even after he finally felt his consciousness travel into dreamland though, he could not shake the feeling that tomorrow was going to be a long day.

* * *

 ** _AN: So yeah, originally I mainly wanted to pair Spidey and Lightning up because just thinking about those two getting together romantically was kind of hilarious in my opinion, but as I was writing both this and the first chapter, I couldn't help but notice the similarities between the two were much more apparent than you'd think. They both only have one living relative, both lost their parents or a parental figure at a young age, both took on additional responsibilities to help support their last remaining family member, and they both also became someone else after a great tragedy in an effort to be stronger in some way._**

 ** _Serah: I know I'm not technically supposed to know that Peter is Spider-Man right now, but after seeing all that, I can't help but think it's actually a little scary how much he has in common with my sister._**

 ** _AN: Yeah well, I guess most people just get caught up in the more well-known characteristics and traits of the characters to really see some of these things. Speaking of common things, the whole Spider-Man making a guess as to what Lightning's real name is thing will become a bit of a running gag for a while to come until he finally learns her real name, so there's your heads-up on that._**

 ** _Snow: Uh, is it just me or did some of that action there seem a bit familiar?  
_**

 ** _AN: Well it should. Yes, most of those scenes had drawn inspiration from the Amazing Spider-Man movies, in case it wasn't obvious enough, and not only that, but we also introduced Spidey to not just Snow and Serah, but a couple of other notable FFXIII characters as well! Pretty sweet huh?_**

 ** _Serah: Um, about that whole cinnamon roll thing you mentioned earlier on in the chapter...where did that come from?_**

 ** _AN: Well...I just threw that in there for a bit of humor to be honest, and its not like we've ever really heard anything about such things before. There was going to be a little more dialogue to go with that, but I figured that I would be overdoing it a bit on that to be honest, and I really didn't want to put off the more exciting parts of the chapter for too long, or end up being forced to move it to the next chapter._**

 ** _Serah: And why was I thrown into a "Damsel in distress" role here? Didn't that happen to me enough in the original storyline of the FFXIII series?_**

 ** _AN: Sorry, but I couldn't think of a better way for Peter to jump into the action for a good reason, you know, beyond the old great power and great responsibility thing._**

 ** _Serah:...It better not happen too much more often from now on. You know, aside from where it's obviously needed._**

 ** _AN: I'll...do my best. So, now that we've covered all of that, Onto the Preview!..._**

 ** _Setting up a new identity for Peter Parker for his stay on Cocoon comes as no difficult task for the web-head and Lightning, though the sparring match the two share afterwards proves to be something of a challenge in more ways than one. Time passes on afterwards, with the days slowly rolling by for everyone, until things suddenly take a bad turn that may tear two sisters apart, and bring Spider-Man and his new friends into the middle of a deadly conflict that they may not be prepared to handle. Witness the calm before the storm and the storm's beginning, next time._**

 ** _Please read and review, and swing on back for next time, fellow true believers!_**


	3. Days Until the Storm

_**AN: Hey everyone, hope you all had a good Thanksgiving, because we're bringing you all back into the swing of action with another chapter of A Spider's Focus!**_

 _ **[audience applause]**_

 _ **Lightning: Took you long enough. For a minute there, I thought you were going to leave us hanging just two chapters in.**_

 _ **AN: Hey, I've got other stories to write too, ya know, and some of them haven't been updated in a few months. Forgive me for multi-tasking a little.**_

 _ **Spider-Man: I'm actually pretty excited for this one. This is probably one of the last chapters in which Peter Parker is going to really do all that much before we switch to full-time Spider-Man.**_

 _ **AN: Well, technically that is exactly what it is, but you'll all see why that is the case later on.**_

 _ **Serah: Well, let's not keep them waiting! I want to actually enjoy the points in this story where I'm not stuck in a crystal for while they last.**_

 _ **AN: Well then, I think you'd better enjoy every last minute of this chapter that has you in it then. Roll disclaimer!**_

 _ **I do not own anything from any Spider-Man or Final Fantasy franchises or any other franchise mentioned in this story.**_

 _ **Serah: ...Wait, what did you mean when you said that?**_

 _ **AN: You'll see...**_

* * *

 **Chapter 3: Days Until the Storm**

Lieutenant Amador of the Guardian Corp had seen many things since he became a soldier. Monster attacks, honest, good people being victimized by criminals, and of course, the many things he had seen and heard to know that you should not get mixed up with the other soldier division, PSICOM. He had seen all of these things, and for many years, he thought he would not see anything that would surprise him ever again. That was proven wrong the minute that an eighteen year old girl by the name of Lightning Farron joined up with the Bodhum Security Regiment immediately after she had finished high school. Amador had not really been all that enthusiastic about having someone so young enlist right out of school like that, and a young woman who just barely become an adult no less, but after watching her for a while, seeing her train, fight, and constantly push herself to become better, Amador had to admit that Lightning was definitely not like any other kid her age; she was something much more than that. She was someone who did not just want to be strong; she was someone who needed to be strong, and she needed it desperately. Why that was the case, Amador could not have told you right away, because it was not until a couple of years later or so after Lightning had made it to her current standing in the Guardian Corp that he found that the fierce, rose-color haired woman was the only one to look out for both herself and her little sister ever since she was only fifteen, and that reason actually served to further Amador's respect for Lightning. After that, now Amador was sure that he had seen it all, but once again, Lightning had proved otherwise, because today, he once again saw something that surprised him.

It had actually started out like a normal day for him, even when Lightning finally came in to begin her usual shift, but after she had clocked in, Lightning did not immediately go to see what assignments she had, so Amador figured that she was waiting on something or someone and did not say anything. Almost twenty minutes later, Lightning was still there, and much to Amador's surprise, it seemed that she was, dare he say it, getting impatient. Now, he knew that Lightning was not a big fan of certain individuals, such as Snow and the NORA gang, but she always managed to burry such feelings whenever she was at base or working to the point where it was almost unnoticeable, but this time, her irritation was actually becoming quite apparent, to the point where it almost seemed like she was going to attack anyone who spoke to her unless whatever she was waiting on showed up in the next couple of seconds. Not two minutes later, Lightning had actually started pacing across the room in an attempt to calm herself, for what little good it did, and after watching this for a few minutes and starting to feel a little dizzy after doing so, Amador finally found that he could not just sit back and wonder anymore; he just had to ask one of his best soldiers what was wrong with her.

"Hey Farron, any reason you're not getting right to work as usual, and just what is it that's got you all worked up," Amador asked, getting Lightning's attention.

Lightning finally came to a stop in her pacing and had the decency to look a little sheepish for how out of character she was likely acting when she replied, "Sorry Lieutenant, I'm just waiting on someone for an important matter, and he's running more than a little late."

Amador nodded in acceptance, even though he had not really learned anything he did not already guess, and decided to press on in figuring out what had gotten Lightning so worked up. After all, this was the first time he had seen her get so impatient waiting for someone for so long, even when they were late. "Care to tell me who this person is and why you're waiting for them to show up," Amador asked.

"It's…a long story," Lightning informed him after a moment, her eyes darting between her superior and the entrance as she continued waiting for her very tardy friend.

"Really? Cause I thought the explanation was actually pretty simple," a new voice commented from above the two, and they both spun around in surprise to see Spider-Man lowering himself from the ceiling on a web-line that he was hanging upside down from. "See, Miss Farron here was so impressed with how I handled the situation on the bridge yesterday that when we ran into each other again later that night, during which I actually saved her from some rather unsavory fellows, she pretty much demanded I drop by so that she could test my fighting abilities first hand, just so she could see what I was really capable of," Spidey continued as he continued lowering himself until he was hanging a few feet above Amador's desk, right at the point where they were eye-level with him. "That's not too much of a problem is it, because I'd rather she not get into trouble or anything for doing this."

"Spider-Man," Amador gasped in shock, and he was quickly spinning his gaze back and forth between the web-swinger and Lightning. "What…how…you invited him here, Farron?"

"Yeah, although his story is not quite entirely accurate, seeing as I did _not_ need saving," Lightning stated, throwing a pointed glare at Spider-Man as she did.

"Right, right, so the fact those guys had pretty much cornered you in a dark alleyway was just some kind of ruse or something so you could wow them into submission with your feminine charms or something," Spider-Man easily quipped.

Lightning's glare doubled in intensity at that point while a few veins started to become a little more visible on her forehead, but Amador did not really notice this all that much. He was too busy being stunned by the fact that the hero from yesterday was right here in his base and was talking to one of his best soldiers like they were old friends or something, despite the reactions that Lightning was giving that spoke to the contrary. After another minute or so, Amador finally shook himself out of his stupor and turned his full attention to Spider-Man. "Do you mind if I ask you couple of questions before you two get started on whatever plans you had," Amador asked Spider-Man.

Spidey saw Lightning give him a look that demanded he say no to the lieutenant's request, but he was actually having a little fun pushing her buttons like this, so instead he replied, "Sure thing, Captain, but I think you're going to have to make it quick. I think that vein on Lightning's forehead is going to pop soon if I keep her waiting for much longer. Oh and, just in case you were thinking of asking for an autograph as one of your questions, I'm afraid I'll have to refuse. I don't have a pen on me at the moment, and I only do autographed photos, but I do know this guy who could get you some really good ones at a very good price if you're that interested."

It took every ounce of willpower that Lightning had to not whip out her gunblade and blast Spider-Man into oblivion for his response, the things he said in it, and who he said them to. Amador did not seem to mind too much though, as he just laughed a little at Spidey's joke and pressed on with his questions. "First off, I'm actually a lieutenant, but thanks for the compliment. Secondly, as my first question, I feel that I have to ask the one question that pretty much everyone in Bodhum if not Cocoon is wondering after seeing so much as one of the news reports about what you did yesterday, and I'm kinda hoping you won't feel too offended by it when I ask this. Are you a l'Cie?"

Spider-Man stared at the lieutenant for a full minute or so, turning his gaze between him and Lightning before he finally answered. "I'm gonna be totally honest with you man…I have no idea what that is."

"…Seriously," Amador questioned in surprise. He had a hard time believing that there was actually someone out there who did not know about l'Cie.

"I'm from a place that's very well out of the way," Spider-Man shrugged.

"So then, how're you able to do the things you can do," Amador asked, catching Lightning's interest as well. Of all the things she knew about Spider-Man, this was one thing she had not thought to ask him about before, so naturally she was curious.

Spider-Man on the other hand seemed to get a little nervous for some reason, as he rubbed the back of his head and gave an awkward chuckle before he finally said, "Promise not to laugh?" Neither soldier gave any response, so he took that mean he should just come right out and say it. "I…got bit by a genetically altered spider."

Both soldiers continued to stare at Spider-Man for a moment after that response, until Amador finally burst out laughing, while Lightning seemed to be struggling to keep herself from doing anything more than getting a humorous smile on her face, something that very few people had ever seen on Lightning at all. After a couple of minutes though, Amador realized that Spider-Man was not saying anything, and looked as though he was giving them both a deadpan look behind his mask, and he immediately ceased in his laughter before he asked, "Wait…you're not joking?"

"Dude, I may throw out clever quips and one-liners when I'm out doing my thing, and even in idle conversations just ease the tension, but that's one thing I hardly ever joke about. You have no idea how tempted I was to make a joke out of it though, because I am well aware of how lame it is to get superpowers like that," Spider-Man replied.

Now it was Amador's turn to look sheepish, and he quickly apologized to Spider-Man for his laughter, but before anymore could be said, Lightning suddenly pulled out her gunblade and slashed it through the web Spider-Man was hanging from, causing him to unceremoniously drop to the floor. After hauling him up onto his feet, Lightning immediately started dragging the web-head away while she called out to her lieutenant, "We'll be at my usual training area for a little while, and I'd prefer it if we were not disturbed unless absolutely necessary lieutenant."

"Uh…sure thing, Farron. Whatever you need," Amador nodded, and he slowly made his way back to his desk so that he could return to what he had been doing before. After that little scene he had just been a part of and witness to, it had completely slipped his mind to tell Lightning that she was cleared to take that time off that she had requested for the other day.

* * *

"I can't believe you actually said that," Lightning hissed for the fifth time since they had gotten out of earshot from Amador.

"Yes, I am aware of your disbelief, but perhaps you could clarify which thing I said that you are having a hard time believing? Was it the autograph thing, because I was actually just going to tell him a guy named Peter Parker could get pictures of Spider-Man in action that I would autograph for him," Spidey revealed.

Lightning was about to retort when she found herself freezing in place and turning to face him in disbelief. "Really? You're going to take advantage of the fact that he doesn't know who you are just so you can make a quick buck?"

"Hey, you know how desperate I am for money at the moment, so don't judge me! Besides, I used to make a living off of selling pictures of Spider-Man in action all the time back home," Peter revealed. "Seriously, do you have any idea how many people would be jealous if they knew I made a living off of making selfies?"

Lightning did not know how to respond to that, so she just huffed and turned away so that she could keep going towards their destination before finally electing to answer his original question. "I'm talking about how you said that you had 'saved me' from those thugs. I've told you that I had that under control, and the last thing I need is you screwing up my reputation around here. And then you go and try to sell that crap you call an origin story for your powers to Amador? Not funny."

"Okay first off, I was saving you and you know it. There's no shame in admitting that you need help every now and then. Second off, that 'crap' is actually the real and honest truth. In fact, if I wasn't telling the truth about how I got my powers, then may some greater power strike me down where I stand," Spider-Man retorted. He then stopped in his tracks for a minute, prompting Lightning to stop and turn back to him to see why he had done so, and after a minute of silence, Spider-Man resumed walking to wherever she was leading them and said, "Well would you look at that. It looks like I was telling the truth."

Lightning did not really know what to say for a moment, but eventually she did find her voice again just as they were rounding the corner. "Well then how is it you haven't heard about a l'Cie before?"

"Uh, from a different universe, remember," Spider-Man reminded her. "I'm still trying to adjust to the fact that you guys have things like hover cars and motorcycles, and that there are people here who apparently have natural pink hair…" Lightning could not stop the growl that came forth in response to that. "Sorry, natural _rose_ -colored hair and think that it's not a big deal. Seriously though, the flying cars and bikes thing is awesome enough. We're still working on that back home. Do you guys have spaceships that are capable of faster-than-light travel too?"

"Uh…no, we don't have those. At least, not since I last heard," Lightning replied after taking a minute to simmer down again.

The two then continued on in silence until they finally reached their destination: the training area that Lightning had mentioned earlier to Amador. It really was not all that much to speak of from Spider-Man's perspective. To be honest, it looked a lot like a large, grey room with no practice dummies and a case on the side that held a variety of weapons, among which he could have sworn he saw one or two gunblades like Lightning's. Then again, he had once thought the same thing about the training room at both Avengers Mansion and Avengers Tower, and that ended up leading him to have to struggle to stay alive until the program had finished running. If this was anything like that, then Peter had a strong feeling that whatever program that Lightning would set as the backdrop for their spar would probably have him running scared soon enough, but it was not like she needed any help in that regard. He was already shaking in his spider boots from the moment she had said that she wanted to fight him last night.

Peter quickly shook those thoughts from his mind and turned to Lightning just in time to see her typing something into a nearby computer. He could not see what it was from where he was standing, but at the moment, he had his mind on another matter. "So how do you want to do this thing? With weapons and equipment, or without?"

"You can use whatever you want, except for your little goop-shooters," Lightning replied as she finished her work and turned to face him.

"First off, their web shooters, not goop-shooters, and second, I get the feeling you're just saying that because you're worried you won't be able to get any of it out of that pretty hair of yours, Daisy," Spidey quipped in correction.

"Well then think again, and by the way, wrong guess again," Lightning replied with a little smirk, but she had to use every mental discipline she knew to hide the blush that had started to grow on her face when she heard Peter call her hair pretty.

Apparently it was not quite enough, because Peter had noticed, and could not help himself from saying what he did next. "You know, you're actually kinda cute when you blush. Not as cute as you are when you're angry like earlier, but…"

That was as far as Spider-Man had gotten, because the next thing he knew he was jumping back in shock from the sound of a gun being fired, and he looked to see that Lightning had shot in front of where his feet had just been. When he looked back up, it was just in time to see a very pissed off Lightning right in front of him with her gunblade at his throat, and the woman immediately hissed, "Don't. Ever. Call me. Cute."

"Yeah, okay. Duly noted," Spider-Man quickly replied. When Lightning backed up and holstered her weapon again, Peter felt it was now safe enough to ask a follow-up question. "But can I call you things like Pretty? Hot? Beautiful? Sexy?"

Lightning was not sure if her face was heating up from how angry she was getting at his question or if it was due to something else, but right now, she really did not care. She was just glad that her back was turned to him so that he could not see her face at the moment. "Just take off your web shooters so we can start already."

"Fine, fine," Spider-Man said, his hands raised in surrender before they moved down to his wrists to remove the trusty devices. "But if I've gotta forego the use of my webs, then you can't use that fancy little rifle-sword of yours."

"Gunblade," Lightning corrected.

"Whatever," Peter shrugged. It may have irritated Lightning a little at how nonchalant he was acting in response to her correction, but she still followed through on his ultimatum and removed her gunblade from its holster so that she could place it on the table outside the fighting area with Spider-Man's web shooters. "So anything else you want to add," Spider-Man asked once they were both standing in the middle of the ring.

"Yeah. Don't hold back," Lightning told him, and with that she dropped into a fighting stance, with a wide smirk on her face, silently telling the web-head that she was going to enjoy the thrashing she was sure she was about to give him.

Peter did nothing but nod in response before he too crouched down in one of his usual fighting stances, immediately thinking back to some of the things that the various heroes who had helped him hone his hand-to-hand combat skills had drilled into him as he studied her. Right from the start, he could tell that Lightning was confident, that much was obvious, but from her stance, it appeared that she had ample reason to be. It was quite strong, almost fiercely so, and held very few weak points that he could quickly or easily exploit, showing that it allowed her to be ready to defend or attack at a second's notice. Though another thing that Spidey picked up on was that it seemed a little stiff, which quickly told him that Lightning was not really all that fond of fighting without any weapons, especially without her gunblade, but not to the point where she was unable to fight without them. Seeing all of this immediately reminded Peter of when he first saw Lightning after arriving here and how he had compared her to Black Widow. This only further emphasized that belief.

What Peter did not know was that Lightning was studying Peter's fighting stance as well, and from what she could see so far, she was not really that impressed. Yes, the low crouching may have guaranteed he would be able to spring up in any direction at a second's notice and would probably force someone to swing low if they wanted to hopefully land a hit on him if he stayed there the entire time, but from what she could see, it was also rather loose and overly relaxed, almost to the point where it almost made her think of something a typical brawler would use. Then again, he did have the advantage of being fast and agile enough to be able to dodge bullets, and from what she had seen so far, Peter was also much stronger than the average person, so maybe those factors and his other powers made up for whatever lack of actual training he may have had. Of course, Lightning was not going to assume he had no training at all, that would have been extremely foolish, but she was also not going to kid herself into thinking that it was very extensive in any way since she had yet to see the web-head fight as though he was seriously fighting to stay alive. Maybe this one-on-one spar would be enough for her to finally gauge just how powerful he really was as a fighter.

The two both stood where they were for another few minutes or so, staring each other down and waiting for the other to make the first move, until Spidey finally broke the silence and asked, "So…are we waiting on some kind of signal or something, or do we just…"

His question received an answer before he could even finish it, as Lightning took that as her cue to charge in, her fist reeled back ready to strike him once she was close enough. Peter immediately reacted on instinct and quickly sprang to one side in order to avoid her hit, but was soon forced further onto the defensive when Lightning snapped a leg out in an attempt to kick him in the side. Thankfully, Spidey was able to catch her leg before it had connected, but Lightning was able to spin herself around and plant a hard hit into his side, freeing herself and causing Spidey to stumble a little. Lightning immediately capitalized on his loss of balance, and charged once again, and thus was not expecting Spidey to regain himself quick enough to actually flip over her and then kick her in the back once he had landed behind her, causing her to stumble a little in response. Spidey quickly capitalized on this and followed up with a quick barrage of punches and kicks that Lightning was having difficulty just tracking, never mind blocking. Most of the time he was moving just slightly faster than the average human, but other times, he was moving so fast that she could actually see a few afterimages forming in his wake. After another minute or so, Spidey actually managed a hit on the trained soldier, and it only took Lightning a minute to realize that he had actually hit a nerve cluster on her arm, and if it were not for her own training and slightly higher tolerance to pain and injury, she was sure that she would likely not be able to use that arm for a while afterwards.

Realizing what had just happened probably should have pissed Lightning off a little, but in truth, she found herself actually feeling a little more excited, which showed in the way she smirked at Spider-Man after they had paused for a moment to catch their breath. Spidey honestly found himself smirking a little as well, because it had actually been a while since he last fought against someone this seriously aside from the heroes who had helped him develop his fighting style into something of an actual martial art form. A second later, the two had charged again, and were soon exchanging blows left and right, neither of them giving the other any ground for longer than a second or so, and both of them making sure to leave little to no openings for their opponent. Both of them had faced a variety of foes who were stronger and more powerful than them, and the only thing that was actually acting as a deciding factor in their favor was their individual skill sets. Lightning was a well-trained soldier, prepared to take on a variety of different threats, she did not have any qualms about taking out her enemies permanently if necessary, and she was also much more agile, faster, and flexible than Spidey. On the other side of things, Spidey was a well-seasoned crime-fighter with ten years of experience, including the time he had spent working with and sometimes even training with other heroes like the Avengers or his friends Wolverine and Shang-Chi, and he also had his spider-powers to give him more of an edge on Lightning.

Out of everything in each of their current arsenals though, Spidey had one thing that Lightning did not have very much of in abundance, as far as he knew; it was a skill that he had often been told was his greatest asset outside of his ability to never shut up, and it had gotten him out of many different jams time and again: his ability to always be unpredictable. When they got to a point where Lightning was about to back him into a corner, he let this ability shine as he ducked under the kick that she threw at him. Using the momentum of his dodge, he slid under Lightning and behind her, and said, "You know, I don't think I ever realized until now that you actually have a very nice butt."

"W-what," Lightning stuttered, her face starting to light up with a dusting of pink once again, and her surprise caused her to drop her guard long enough for Spidey to take advantage of the distraction, and tackle her to the ground. The two then rolled across the floor until Lightning soon found herself firmly pinned beneath the web-head, who had removed his mask just enough for her to see the wide smirk on his face.

"As my buddy Quicksilver would often say, you didn't see that coming," Spider-Man quipped, his smirk not faltering for even a second.

Lightning scowled in response to this, but on the inside she was actually very impressed. She knew that Spider-Man was powerful, and she had suspected that he possessed some skill, but she was not expecting it to be to the degree that was just displayed to her. Still, she was not about to let him win so easily, especially when he had used such a sneaky trick to get her pinned down. "So what now? Is this part where you decide to have your way with me, or do you expect me to start begging you to take me," Lightning asked.

That threw Spidey for a loop, since he was not expecting that, and Lightning knew that he would not have, so the minute his grip had relaxed enough, she immediately spun them around so that she was now on top of him, holding him down on the ground. "Copycat," Spidey playfully accused.

"You're the one who opened that door, so _you_ should've seen _that_ coming," Lightning remarked just as easily, throwing Spider-Man's words back at him.

"Well, I guess this just proves that you prefer to be the dominant one in your relationships, doesn't it," Spidey replied, expecting her to be thrown off once again.

Unfortunately, Lightning Farron was not so easily fooled, especially not when the same trick was used twice in a row like this, and she intended to make that clear to the web-head. "Maybe I do. Got a problem with that," Lightning murmured as she slowly moved closer to the pinned spider-hero.

"Heh, you wish. Trust me, you have no idea how many women I've met in my life who would be viewed as powerful in one way or the other," Peter stated, not missing a beat. There was no way he was going to lose a war of quip pro quo to anyone, especially someone who was supposed to be as serious as Lightning normally seemed to be.

"Oh really? And where would I rank on that list," Lightning questioned, now so close that she was completely pressed up against Peter, and she was sure he could feel it through that very tight costume of his, seeing as she felt his arm muscles tense just a little bit under her palms.

Spidey did not have an immediate response for that, given that he could feel Lightning's chest pressed up against him, but he did manage to stutter one out nonetheless. "Uh, I'd have to say at least…top five, at least…and quickly rising."

"Only the top five, huh? Guess I have a little work to do before I'm at the top," Lightning noted, barely even noticing that she was now close enough to feel Peter's breath on her skin.

Peter did not say anything this time, as he was all too well aware of how close they were to one another, and all it would take at this point was the smallest of moves and he would be kissing the woman in front of him, which would either lead to her kissing him back, or her wanting to kill him in the most brutal of ways imaginable, and Spidey had a very vivid imagination when it came to what people like Lightning could do to men like him when they were pissed off enough. Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on who you ask, Lightning's comm. device suddenly went off, startling them both out of the moment, and prompting Lightning to jump off of Peter as fast as her namesake before she answered it, while making sure her back was facing Spider-Man the whole time as she did. She barely even noticed how Peter was quickly scrambling back to his feet and sliding his mask back over his face completely as she listened to whoever was on the other end of the call, and eventually gave a quick confirmation that she understood what they were saying before ending the call.

"I've uh…I've got to head out on my regular patrol, so I guess…we're done for now, so…" Lightning reported to Peter, not entirely sure why she was acting like a nervous school girl at the moment.

"Yeah, I guess I'll just stick around for a bit and take care of the…things that I need to deal with…and uh," Peter immediately nodded as he moved to collect his web shooters.

"Right, right. I'll…show you where my office is so you can…do that stuff," Lightning said.

"That would be great. Thanks," Spidey quickly said, and from that point on, the two were completely silent as they gathered up the items that they had previously removed from their persons for their spar and then left so that Lightning could show Peter to her office.

A very awkward silence permeated the hallway as they walked, until it got to the point of being too uncomfortable for the both of them, and Lightning decided to try and break it. "So…you seemed pretty fast, probably faster than I saw you move before then. And your fighting style is definitely interesting. I can't say that I recognize it though."

"Oh, yeah I'd be a little surprised if you did," Spidey said, eternally thankful for the subject to end the awkwardness. "You see, it's something of a personal fighting style that I developed with a little help from a couple of friends of mine back home, and it basically utilizes all of my spider-powers to their fullest extent, while also adding in the aspects and precision of a few different fighting techniques that I picked up from fighting alongside of or training with my fellow heroes and friends. I call it the Way of the Spider, or Spider-Fu."

Lightning just hummed in response to this, but gave no other verbal response to show that she was somewhat impressed. Most of the time when someone tries to create their own fighting style, it is not very impressive to say the least, just them trying to mimic things they've seen others do in movies or in real-life, or a more fast-paced version of brawling that masquerades as martial arts, but Spidey seemed to have really done exactly that with this Way of the Spider. If it was just a different variety of brawling, then he would not have been able to strike a nerve cluster in the way that he had, and the fact that it seemed to utilize all of his abilities as a fighter was also quite the added bonus. There was also one other thing that she had picked up on as a result of their spar. "I think I can see why you wear a suit like that now instead of something that offers a little more protection, too," she commented. "It helps with your speed, doesn't it?"

"Yeah, but this suit is actually a little more padded and tougher than you'd think," Spidey shrugged in admittance. "My old one was pretty much multi-colored spandex with a web theme to it, but this one actually does offer a small amount of protection from certain hits and attacks. It's not entirely bullet proof or anything that tough, but if I ever do get hit by a gunshot, it won't get through enough to cause a serious injury to me other than the obvious aches and pains. I mean, I have actually worn a couple suits of armor once, but the benefits did not quite outweigh the downsides of taking away a bit from my speed and agility so I didn't stick with either suit for long, especially since I only used the first one during a time when my Spider-Sense was not really working."

"Your what," Lightning asked, not expecting that.

"I…I have a sixth sense that warns me of danger and…stuff," Spider-Man hesitantly explained as best as he could. "I named it my Spider-Sense when I was a kid. One of these days I'll probably think of something cooler to call it, but until then…"

"Huh. That does explain how it seems like you can dodge attacks when you don't even see them coming most of the time," Lightning mused.

"Yeah," Spidey nodded. He did not want to say anything about how so far his Spider-Sense had not gone off around Lightning even once since meeting her, but mostly because he was worried she might find a way to take advantage of that later on in some way.

Neither of them said anything more after that, and continued on to Lightning's office in comfortable silence so that Peter could use the computer there to set himself up with a new identity for his stay in Cocoon, the memory of the scene from earlier almost completely forgotten. That did not mean that they were not both wondering about the overlying question that had been racing through their minds since they had jumped apart from each other after said incident. _'What the hell was that, and why did it happen?'_

* * *

The rest of that day passed in a bit of a blur for Peter, though that may have had a great deal to do with the fact that he had a hard time shaking the incident with Lightning from his mind most of the time. He did not know what to think about what had almost happened there; was she about to try and kiss him, was he about to kiss her, or was it all just some kind of crazy scheme that Lightning had cooked up to try and throw him off in their spar that went a little too far? More to the point, why was it that he let it get that far in the first place instead of stopping it before then? He would not deny that Lightning was a very beautiful woman, you would have had to be blind to not see that, but he had just met her barely two days ago, so he should not be having any kind of feelings like that for her, right? Then again, it was hard to deny that he did feel something in that moment that he had not felt in a long time, and the last time he had felt that way was with Gwen, so it could not be that farfetched, right?

The more he thought about it, the more those kind of questions raced through his mind, and he did not need them doing so because he had more important things to worry about, and that was a bit part of the reason why he took so long to fully create his new Cocoon-based identity after Lightning had shown him to her office. Sure, it probably would have taken most of the day anyways, but it took much longer because of the fact that his mind was distracted by thoughts of that incident. In the end, he was able to get it all done, and Peter Parker now had everything that was needed for him to exist on Cocoon, at least as far as all the necessary papers and certificates go. When he had finished all of that, he did not go right back to the Farron household, but instead tracked down a lab in the base that was equipped with everything he needed to restock his supply of web fluid. He had not really had much of a chance to make more since arriving in this world, and while he did have a reasonable supply of extra cartridges in his belt, that was no excuse to not make absolutely sure that he would not run out any time soon. The web-head could still remember quite a few times when he had nearly died due to the fact that he had not made sure to keep up his supply of web fluid.

Finding the lab was simple enough, especially after he had asked Amador to help him out, and after getting permission from the lieutenant, along with a few hours of the typical work that was necessary to mix the necessary chemicals that were used to create his trusted webs, Spider-Man now had a full supply of webbing at his disposal. He did not stop there though, as he saw a chance to make some improvements to his webs and web shooters that he had thought up in the past but never been able to create due to a variety of reasons, the main one being that most were a little out of his budget range, along with some upgrades to some of his other tech, like his Spider-Tracers. He knew that this was probably taking advantage of the lieutenant's generosity of letting him use this lab, but the man did say to use it for as long as he needed and that he was welcome to their facilities anytime that he needed them, so who was he to refuse an offer like that? That was what ended up keeping him there so late into the night, and what ended up leading him to be the last one back to the Farron residence that night. He may not have been able to make all the upgrades he had been hoping to make, but it was just enough to be satisfactory for him at the moment. It was not like he was going to be swinging into some kind of crazy warzone or conspiracy plot at anytime in the near future, right?

Now, one could say that his coming back so late had something to do with the awkwardness that had seemed to have formed between him and Lightning after the little incident in the training area (and by "one" he meant Serah and Snow, assuming either of them ever found out), but Peter would be the first to argue that it had absolutely nothing to do with that whatsoever. That did not mean that breakfast the next morning did not feel a little awkward between him and Lightning, something that Serah seemed to pick up on when she joined them for breakfast, but it was not to the point where they were unable to at least have a pleasant, civil conversation with one another. Still, it seemed that neither one of the two could have left for their daily plans any faster after breakfast, but Peter soon found himself back at the Farron home not more than a few hours later, and dropping down onto the couch with a tired sigh.

"You sound like you've just run about a dozen marathons," Serah observed when she heard Peter come in.

The Queens-born hero jumped a little at the younger Farron sister's voice, having not realized she was there until she had spoken, but immediately calmed down a bit after seeing her looking at him with a sympathetic smile that said she was hoping to do what she could to help. "Oh, hey Serah. Didn't see you there," Peter greeted. "Wait, shouldn't you be out with Snow or something?"

"I actually just finished my studies for the day, and I'm waiting for Snow to come and pick me up so we can hit the mall later," Serah revealed. "But until then, I've got plenty of time to hear about what's got you so down in the dumps."

There was no denying it; Serah Farron was good. She had managed to take Peter's attempt at changing the subject and turn it right back around on him. Thinking he might as well indulge her a little, Peter just sighed and sat himself up a little straighter to regale her with the tale of his current woes. "Just not having any luck with landing a new job," Peter admitted. "I've been going around to every place with a help wanted sign and then some, and I've had absolutely no luck landing anything, not even a bagboy job at a grocery store. And I thought it was tough getting a job back home."

"Well, you never know. Maybe the job will find you instead," Serah encouraged. Clearly it did not seem to help much, so she decided to try a different tactic. "You know, I met someone last night who had gotten herself a little scrape doing something, and she seemed to be having a few troubles of her own. It didn't take long for me to help her patch up her scrape, and the two of us soon found ourselves sitting on the beach enjoying the sunset in peaceful silence until she decided to open up a little about what was bothering her."

"Are you sure it's okay to tell me something like this? I mean, I doubt your new friend would want you spilling her secrets to other people," Peter said.

"Don't worry. I'm sure she wouldn't mind," Serah shrugged. "It turned out, she was chasing after someone because she really had to apologize for something, but she couldn't figure out what to say. She even had a few nightmares about it."

"I kinda know how that feels," Peter muttered to himself, having some experience with wanting to apologize for something that had happened but not knowing what to really say. Of course, most of the time that was due to the fact that it would have exposed him as Spider-Man, but that was beside the point.

"So, I told her that if it was too much to deal with, she should just face it later," Serah continued, likely not hearing Peter's comment. "Sometimes things seem easier when you look at them from a distance, you know?"

"Yeah. I've got a pretty good idea about that," Peter nodded in understanding. He then smiled a bit at Serah and added, "Thanks Serah. I really needed that."

"Glad I could help, Peter. Don't worry; from what I've seen, anyone would be lucky to have you working with or for them. You'll land a new job in no time. If you want, I'm sure Snow and I could even talk to Lebreau and see if she would be willing to hire you for work at her restaurant."

"Thanks, I'll take any help I can get," Peter nodded. "Especially given what I've been doing as a substitute for any official work at the moment."

"And what would that be," Serah asked, now feeling a bit intrigued.

"Take a look," Peter said as he pulled some photos out of the bag he had acquired the other day when he was out at the mall with Snow and Serah.

After accepting the pictures, Serah's eyes widened a little in awe at what she saw. Every picture that met her eyes was of Spider-Man in action, and it looked like they were all taken at pretty incredible angles too, the kind that almost made Serah think that Peter had been sitting on a fire escape or something when he took them. "Wow, Pete, these are amazing. You made these yourself," Serah gasped in wonder as she continued to flip through the pictures.

"Yep. Photography has always been something of a natural skill for me, and I used to take pictures of my hometown's resident Spider-Man, so I figured I'd try my luck and snap a few pics of this one to see where it led me," Peter admitted. "The pictures are pretty good, but I'm still having a bit of trouble finding someone willing to buy them."

"Well hey, maybe if you found Spider-Man and got him to sign some of these, I'd be willing to buy a couple, and I'm sure that some of Snow's friends would want to buy a few as well, with or without an autograph," Serah suggested as she handed the photos back to him.

"I'll keep that in mind," Peter chuckled upon accepting said pictures, while mentally noting to make some copies of the pictures that he could autograph later and sell to the friends of Snow's that Serah had mentioned. He would probably just give Serah one for free since he did not feel right thinking about making her pay for one after all that she and Lightning were doing for him. Once he had safely returned the pictures to his bag, he looked back to Serah and asked, "So, what's on the agenda for you and Snow today, anyways, if you don't mind my asking?"

"Not at all," Serah replied with a smile. "We were actually going to head to the mall so I could find a birthday present for Lightning."

"Wait, Lightning's birthday is coming up," Peter gasped in surprise.

"Yeah, a couple of days from now, actually," Serah revealed. "Didn't you know?"

"Uh, Serah, this is the first I've heard of it, because when was ever a time when it would have come up even in passing," Peter pointed out.

Serah nodded in concession of this point and then hummed to herself in thought before a light bulb went off in her head. "Hey, why don't you come with me and Snow so you can find something for her, too," Serah offered.

"What?! Oh, no, I…I don't think that'll be necessary," Peter stuttered in response.

"Come on, Pete. You're probably the first person I've ever seen Lightning make friends with so easily outside of work. I mean, sure, she's got me, but I'm not always going to be around, and she knows it. I think it would be nice if you got her something as a way of showing that she does have someone else in her life that's going to be there for her, especially if it was something that comes from your heart," Serah insisted, her smile turning a little teasing towards the end.

"You make it sound like I'm going to be shopping to buy the perfect present for my girlfriend or something," Peter remarked. After a couple of seconds, he realized how what he said may have sounded, and quickly added, "Not…not that there's anything wrong with that. I-it's just that, Lightning and I don't have that kind of relationship, you know, so…"

"I never said that you did, Peter," Serah sang, with a knowing look on her face.

"Okay, wipe that smirk off your face, you know full well that you didn't have to," Peter ordered.

"If you say so, but still, I think it would be good for you to get Lightning a nice birthday present, so, you're coming with me and Snow so you can look for one while helping us find one for me to get her," Serah said, making it quite clear that Peter did not have much choice in the matter.

"You do remember that I don't have any money at the moment, right," Peter asked.

"I'm sure Snow won't mind helping you out a bit," Serah shrugged, and before Peter could argue any further, the sound of someone knocking at the door reached their ears, and they both knew immediately who it was. Serah immediately turned to answer the door, but before she left the room, she looked back once again to throw Peter a smile and said, "Just so you know, I fully approve of you and my sister dating."

"I…she…we…y-you…" Peter stuttered in an attempt to retort, but in the end, he could only sigh in defeat as Serah answered the door, filled Snow in on her invitation to Peter, and then helped the larger man drag Peter out of the house and to his airbike so that they could get to the mall and find birthday gifts for Lightning, with Peter feeling like this was going to be next to impossible for him to accomplish.

* * *

"I was wrong. This is not next to impossible; it _is_ impossible," Peter groaned after finding yet another item that was either too pricy for his liking or just did not seem like something that would be suitable to give to Lightning as a birthday present.

"Ah come on, Pete. I'm sure you'll find something to get for Light before the day is done," Snow encouraged with a pat on the smaller man's back.

"Easy for you to say. You're putting your name on Serah's gift," Peter retorted.

Snow just smiled in response to this, making no attempt to deny this fact at all. The two men had actually split off from Serah a little while earlier when Snow suddenly said that he had spotted something he needed to pick up for one of his friends, and Serah just set to looking through a selection of items from another store in their absence. Oddly enough, Snow had actually brought Peter to a jewelry store for some reason, and Peter was sure that the larger man was trying to get him to get a necklace or something for Lightning just so that he and Serah could have an excuse to further tease him about possibly having feelings for the older Farron sister. Not that Peter had not considered it, but even if Snow was going to help him out with paying for a gift, Peter did not want to bankrupt the guy. Besides, from what he could see, it looked like Snow was more interested in something else in the shop at the moment.

After another two seconds or so of watching Snow look around for something that was unknown to Peter, the big man's face lit up with a smile as he found what he was looking for and quickly asked the lady behind the counter for the item in question. After being handed the items and paying for them, Snow held his purchase up so that he could better examine it, allowing Peter to see what it was. The items in question were two necklaces with identical pendants, and the pendants in question looked like an orb with a ring resting on top of it, while a pointed extension with a spiral around it hung from the bottom of the orb. It may have seemed a bit simplistic to the average person, but Peter could tell that those necklaces were very special, and likely very expensive.

"Wow, I don't know much about jewelry, but I'm pretty sure that those just cost you quite the pretty penny dude," Peter commented.

"It'll be worth it," Snow insisted as he pocketed the necklaces. The larger man then glanced over his shoulder like he was trying to make sure that no one was around to hear, and then motioned for Peter to move closer, and whispered, "Listen, Gadot, Lebreau, Maqui, and Yuj all already know about this, but I'm telling you because you actually saw me buy the necklaces. Before I tell you anything though, I need you to promise that you won't say anything to Serah or Lightning."

"Uh…okay," Peter nodded, suddenly feeling a bit nervous about where Snow was going with this.

After taking a minute to take a deep breath, Snow finally revealed, "I'm going to ask Serah to marry me, and those necklaces you just saw are going to be our engagement necklaces."

That was not on the list of things that Peter was expecting Snow to tell him, and he was pretty sure that his eyes had bulged out of their sockets in surprise when he heard that. He was so surprised by the revelation that he nearly blurted out what Snow had just told him in surprise, but thankfully, Snow managed to shush him before he got any further than the first to words. "You're going to ask Serah to marry you," Peter then asked in a much quieter and subdued voice. "I'm sorry, but I can't help but feel like I have to ask, isn't she a lot younger than you?"

"Uh she's eighteen, and I'm twenty one; last I checked there's only a three year difference between us, and that means that there's no problem with us getting married," Snow said. "I know it may seem like there's more of a gap given how large I appear to be when I stand next to her, but that's the honest truth about it. Besides, even if that wasn't the case, I'd be willing to wait until she was old enough to marry me. She and I…we've come too far to quit now, and she means everything to me."

There was nothing Peter could say to that, and really, after hearing how committed Snow was to marrying Serah, along with the passion in his voice, why would he say anything that would be in argument of the man's decision? From what he had seen of those two when they were together, they were clearly in love with each other and had eyes for no one else. Sure, Lightning would probably not be too fond of the idea of her sister getting married at such a young age, heck, Peter was not too fond of that himself, but if Snow and Serah really cared for each other that much and had been together for that long, then maybe they would be able to convince her to give her blessings eventually. It probably would not be easy, sure, but Peter had a strong hunch that Snow and Serah would be able to do it. Still, something about this seemed a little off to Peter. Snow struck him as the kind of guy who would not just jump into something that important so quickly, so there had to be some reason as to why beyond how strongly he felt about Serah. Whatever that reason was though, ultimately it was none of Peter's business, so he let it be for now.

"Well, I guess all I can do is wish you luck, big guy," Peter finally said after another minute of thinking or so.

"Thanks, but I'm not sure how much luck I'll need. I'm sure that she'll say yes," Snow replied, hoping that he would effectively mask his nervousness on the matter by a show of confidence.

"Who said anything about that? From what I've seen, it'd be crazy to think she would say anything but yes to you. I was wishing you luck for when Lightning finds out," Peter corrected with a smile.

Snow could not help but laugh at first, but his face quickly paled when he realized what Peter had said. He quickly shook himself out of it though, because he knew that he was going to face that particular battle sooner or later anyway, especially since this would make Lightning his new sister, so he would just have to make sure he found a way to prove to her that he was more than capable of doing everything he could for Serah. After he had shaken out his fears of what would happen when Lightning found out about this, Snow looked to his current companion and asked, "Say Pete, have you got any advice on how I should propose? I mean, I've got a couple of ideas in mind, but I could always go for a second opinion."

"What makes you think I would have some ideas," Peter asked.

"Well…I don't know. I guess I just want to hear some ideas from someone other than the guys, since I'm the gonna be the first one in NORA to actually propose, you know. Plus, it's not like you've ever said you haven't at least thought about proposing to a girl at one point or another," Snow admitted.

Peter had to give Snow that, and after thinking it over for a minute, he figured he might as well give the man a little help. "Alright, how about you start by telling me what you have in mind?"

"Well, I was going to propose to her on the beach tomorrow night during the fireworks festival," Snow said.

"Okay, yeah that's a good idea," Peter admitted. "But you can't just do it at some random location. You've gotta make it very special for Serah. Yes, proposing under fireworks is good, very romantic, but it would probably be a little better if you did it somewhere very special to the both of you, like a favorite hangout or something."

Snow nodded in understanding of this, and said, "Got it. I think I might know just the place, too. Anything else?"

"Just a few quick words of wisdom that I learned from my aunt when I first told her I was planning to propose to Gwen a few years back," Peter said. "She told me that a man has to put his wife before himself. I know that you care about Serah, but you have to really ask yourself if you can really do that before you pop the question."

"You don't have to worry about that. I plan to make sure that she's always happy, no matter what," Snow promised.

"Well, keep that in mind for when Lightning finds out. Maybe that will convince her you're the right guy for her little sister," Peter advised. The two exchanged a quick nod and then returned their attention to the other matter that had brought them there, until Peter thought of something else. "One other thing: when you propose to her, I'd give a small speech or something that doesn't just let her know the full depths of your feelings for her, but makes them give even more of a show than those fireworks. Maybe say something like how she's your one and only, or something else along those lines."

Snow nodded in response to that and thanked Peter for the advice once again before they returned their attention to their previous task of helping Peter find a birthday gift for Lightning, and just in time too, because it was at that moment that Serah finally reappeared before them, her smile and the package under her arm indicating that she had found the perfect gift for her older sister. After looking through the various items for another couple of minutes, Peter finally spotted something that caught his eye, and after looking at it for another minute, an idea popped into his head just as quickly. After waving over a jeweler, Peter asked, "Excuse me, do you do custom orders, and if so, how quickly can you get them done?"

* * *

As it turned out, the custom order Peter had requested ended up only taking one day, much to his relief, and after getting a good word in from Snow and Serah, the price ended up being quite reasonable, considering how nice the item Peter had decided to purchase was going to be. Even so, Peter was just glad that he had managed to find a gift for Lightning, but he would not say what it was. No matter how much Snow and Serah pestered him about it, he just kept saying that they would find out when Lightning did on her birthday, and that was if she decided to show it off for the world to see.

After he had picked up the custom order the next day, Peter found himself enjoying the fireworks festival that Snow had mentioned, and at one point, he overheard someone mention to their friend that the spectacle before them was supposed to be made up of wishing fireworks, an odd thing to be certain, but a rather entertaining one at the same time if you were to ask Peter. With that new knowledge in mind, Peter found he could not help but make a little wish of his own on the fireworks. Part of said wish was that Lightning would like the gift and not kill him, while the other part was that he would eventually find a way back home, if possible soon. It was not that he did not enjoy his new life in Bodhum, but he did still have his aunt back home waiting for him, and who knew how long he had been gone from New York now? He knew that it had only been a few days since he had arrived on Cocoon, but he also knew from his past experiences with alternate dimensions and other planets that a few days could likely have been a few months back in his own universe.

Right at the moment though, he was not concerned, for it was now the morning of Lightning's birthday, and he found himself up bright and early despite how late it had been when he finally came back from the festival. What he had not expected, yet was not surprised to discover was that Lightning was also up just as earlier despite the fact that she had told both him and Serah last night that she was taking some time off starting today. This news really seemed to have brightened Serah's day, but if the fact that she was wearing the engagement necklace that Snow had bought for her the previous day was any indication to Peter, it was more like it was just the most recent in a long list of great things that had happened to Serah yesterday. He did not say anything about that to Lightning though, since that was Serah's news to tell when she was ready; Peter just had to hope that Lightning would take the news well.

That was neither here nor there at the moment, because Peter Parker had a mission of his own to complete right now, and it started with him greeting the woman who had opened up her home to him the first night he had landed in Cocoon. "Good morning Lightning, and happy birthday," Peter greeted as cheerily as one could after they had just woken up.

Hearing his greeting drove Lightning's attention away from what she had been doing and onto him, surprise written clearly across her face when she asked, "How did you know it was my birthday today?"

"Serah told me," Peter replied as simply as you please. He then brought the wrapped package that contained his present for her out from behind his back and added, "I um…got you a little something, and before you say that I didn't have to or anything like that, I just want you to know, that I actually did want to, both to say happy birthday and to say thanks for…well, everything you've done to help me out up until now."

Lightning was stunned. She had honestly not expected Peter to get her a birthday gift, and thus, she could only wordlessly accept said gift before she started to slowly unwrap it. When she finally opened the package, she had to gasp a little at what was inside. There, sitting snuggly in the box, was a necklace with a beautiful pendant that was in the shape of a lightning bolt, and from what she could see, it looked as though the pendant had been made with some sort of special material or something, because it seemed to glow with a mixture of red and blue colors. To think that Peter had gotten her something like this was all it took to leave Lightning breathless for a minute until she looked at Peter and said, "It's…very nice, Peter. Thank you."

Peter smiled in response, knowing that Lightning was one of those people who would sometimes have a hard time really expressing how they felt, and why she was like that, but what he did not expect was for her to turn around and pull her hair aside as she held the necklace out to him. "Mind helping me to put it on," the rose-haired woman asked.

"Not at all," Peter said as he took the necklace in his hands and securely fastened it around Lightning's neck, doing his best to ignore how his heartbeat seemed to speed up a little at the close proximity between them.

Lightning was glad that Peter could not see her face at the moment, because while he was placing the necklace on her, she could feel her face heating up a little in response, indicating that she was more than likely blushing at least a little bit. Hoping to distract herself from such thoughts, Lightning quickly asked, "How did you manage to get this?"

"Serah and Snow helped me out a little bit. Mostly Snow though," Peter admitted. "Of course, the pendant is a special custom order that I thought of on my own."

"Any particular reason for that," Lightning inquired.

"Let's just say that so long as you're wearing this necklace, you'll always have a friend that'll be there to come running to help you, even when it seems like you don't really need it for anything other than just someone to talk to," Peter replied cryptically. That left Lightning a little frustrated, he could tell, but he was not going to stop there. "I'm really serious about this, Lightning. I consider you a good friend, despite the fact we've only known each other a few days, and if you ever need anything, you can come to me. Okay?"

Lightning was not expecting that, and immediately turned to face him again, only to find a very serious look on Peter's face, with his eyes burning with nothing but honesty and determination to follow through on that promise of his. Staring into those chocolate orbs of Peter's, Lightning could not help but feel a warm, comforting sensation overwhelm her, making her feel as though she would be safe so long as she believed in what he just said, and upon acting on instinct, Lightning slowly moved forward and wrapped her arms around Peter in a small hug as she whispered into his shoulder, "Okay, and thank you, Peter. I appreciate that."

Peter smiled in response and returned her hug happily, as he said, "Hey, what're friends for, Rose?"

"Keep guessing," Lightning muttered into his shoulder, only this time, Peter could have sworn there was a bit of teasing in her tone.

The little moment was quickly broken though when someone else made their presence known to them, saying, "Aww, that's so sweet!"

"SERAH," exclaimed both the New York hero and the Guardian Corp soldier as they jumped apart and then turned to see the young woman in question smiling widely at them.

"Don't stop on my account. By all means, continue with what you were doing," Serah teased the two.

"We weren't…we were just…nothing happened," Peter stuttered. "I mean, something did happen, b-but not what you're thinking!"

"I-it was just a friendly hug so that I could say thanks for his present," Lightning quickly added before Peter could put his foot any further into his mouth for them.

"Oh yeah! What did he get you, Lightning? He wouldn't tell me or Snow what it was," Serah asked.

After that, Lightning just silently showed Serah the necklace Peter gave her, and the two had to deal with Serah saying how beautiful it was and then teasing them both about how it showed just how much they cared about each other for what felt like hours, until she finally said that she would be cooking up a big birthday feast for Lightning in a couple of hours and that Snow would be coming over to join them, much to Lightning's irritation. When Serah added at the end that she had something really important that she wanted to tell them after Snow came, Peter thought he would only be a little worried, since it would likely be their announcing their engagement to Lightning, but somehow, he had a very bad feeling in the pit of his stomach that it was going to be something else.

* * *

 _'Spider-Sense, why can't you ever warn me about things like this,'_ Peter mentally groaned as he looked on at the catastrophe that was just begging to be let loose. After the little moment between him and Lightning earlier that day, things progressed rather smoothly for everyone, even after Snow showed up, surprisingly. If you were to look in on the peaceful scene that had been unfolding, you would almost think that it was very close to a peaceful utopia, or at least as close to one as you could get when Lightning was in the same room as Snow. After a very delicious meal though (which was cooked by Serah, and had left Peter thinking that the girl could probably give his Aunt May's cooking a run for its money), things had started going downhill.

It had started off with Serah and Snow announcing their engagement, and while Peter may have been excited for them, he found that he had to keep his congratulations as subdued as possible when he started to feel a very dangerous aura start coming off of Lightning at the news. Apparently, Serah and Snow felt it too, because they both became much more nervous about their chances of getting Lightning's blessings. In the end, Lightning somehow managed to keep a cool head on the matter and did not express any ill-will towards the idea, but she also did not hide that she knew there was more to what they wanted to tell them than that. Of course, it was obvious that Serah was going to tell Lightning something else based on how nervous she seemed to be, at least from where Peter was standing, but after seeing her sister's reaction to the news that she was now engaged to Snow, Serah was much more nervous than before. It took a reassuring pat on the shoulder from her new fiancé to help her gather the courage to reveal the big secret that she wanted to share, but when she did, Peter was left confused both by the secret itself, and by Lightning's initial reaction at the sight of it.

After some hesitance on her part, Serah removed the bandage that she had been wearing on her left bicep and slowly turned her arm towards Lightning so that she could get a good look at it, and when she did, Lightning left out a soft, nearly inaudible gasp of shock when she saw a very strange mark on her sister's arm. From Peter's viewpoint, it seemed like a tattoo that was made of an overlapping sequence of black arrows, with one large pair of arrows going through the center with the points positioned at the top and bottom of the rectangle that the others had formed, but given how downtrodden Serah and Snow appeared to be and how shocked Lightning was at the sight of this "tattoo", it was clear that it was something else. After she finally felt that Lightning had gotten a good look at the mark, Serah finally revealed that she had been made into a Pulse l'Cie, confirming that it meant more than what Peter knew, but still not giving him a full answer as to what it really meant. Then again, he did not really need a full answer to know that this new revelation was about to cause a major eruption that would likely tear the two sisters apart.

It was times like this that Peter really hated it when he was right, because after she had sat down to let it all sink in, Lightning had leveled both her sister and Snow a very harsh glare and said something that Peter knew she would not likely be able to take back anytime soon, if ever. "You became a l'Cie, so now you're going to marry this idiot? And you think I'm going to buy that," Lightning snapped in full sarcasm, drawing Serah's gaze to the floor in sadness. Sadly, Lightning was not stopping there. "Full points for originality, but don't forget if you really are a l'Cie…it's my job to deal with you."

"Sis," Serah gasped in horror. She could hardly believe what she was hearing. Maybe it was her anger at finding out about her engagement to Snow talking, or maybe she was just saying this because she did not believe her, but whatever the case may be, it did not change the fact that Serah's sister had basically just said that if she really had become a l'Cie, Lightning would more than likely kill her, and that broke her heart.

"This is ridiculous," Lightning huffed as she turned away from the two with her arms crossed, clearly not wanting to hear anymore. "Worst birthday ever."

If what Lightning said a minute ago had not done the trick, then that last line certainly did, because a minute later, Serah was racing out of the room, and the house in tears. Snow and Peter both called after her in the hopes of getting her to wait, but the poor girl was too heartbroken to hear them, and was already gone before they could stop her. Seeing how hurt Serah was by the words and actions of her own sister did not sit well with Snow at all, and right then, he did not care what Lightning thought of him or what he would do in a moment, because he was not going to stand for what had just happened. "Why won't you believe her," Snow angrily demanded, while Peter started to panic a little at what was starting to unfold before him.

"You kidding me," Lightning asked as if it were obvious. "She gets made a l'Cie and you pop the question?"

"Lightning stop it," Snow shouted, slamming his hand on the table.

"No you stop it," Lightning shouted back, repeating Snow's actions as he did, but they were both silenced when the third person in the room slammed his own fist on the table and shouted over both of them.

"ENOUGH, BOTH OF YOU," Peter screamed. "You two can argue all you want about how great or terrible you two are or aren't in regards to Serah, and about how ridiculous her story may or may not be later, because in case you haven't noticed, Serah just ran out of the house in tears after what had just happened, and is somewhere out there all on her own without either of you to watch out for her!"

Both parties were silenced at that for two reasons. The first reason, and the more obvious one was that in the short time they had known him, they had never once thought Peter would be someone who could be easily angered, if at all, given how optimistic he seemed to be about his situation and how accepting he was in regards to his past. The other reason was because they knew he had a point. Right now was not the time to be fighting with each other, not with Serah running around out there in tears, all by herself, especially if she really had become a l'Cie, and yet here they were doing just that. Of course, Lightning found that she was unable to face Snow or Peter after a minute, because for her, there was a third reason, and that was the fact that Peter was facing her for a majority of his small rant. While he had not said it aloud, he was making it quite clear to her that he knew what she had said was responsible for Serah running out.

Apparently, Snow did not take Lightning's response to Peter's outburst too well, but before he could retort in anger, Peter leveled him with a look that made it clear he would be in trouble if he said something he should not, so he kept his mouth shut and waited for Peter to say something instead. "Snow, go after Serah. She needs you right now, especially given what had just happened," Peter calmly said. "After you've got her calmed down, bring her straight back here, and hopefully, we can pick this up with cooler heads. I'll talk to Lightning."

"…Okay," Snow nodded to Peter before he turned to go after his fiancé. Before he stepped out the door though, he turned back to Lightning so he could say one last thing. "Lightning, I promise you, no matter what happens, I will do it. I'll protect her, even if it costs me my life."

With his piece said, Snow stomped out of the house, and it was not until the sound of his large boots roughly hitting the ground had faded out completely that either Lightning or Peter said anything to one another, though with some hesitance. "Well…that could've gone better. Of course, it could've gone worse too, but it definitely could've been better," Peter sighed, tiredly.

"Shut up," Lightning huffed as she stomped over to the sink so she could start cleaning some of the dishes from their recent meal. She did not even get the water running before she paused in her task to level Peter a glare and said, "You knew about this all along, didn't you?"

"Hey, whoa! Don't try to turn this around on me, Lightning! Okay, yes I knew that Snow was going to propose to Serah, and that there was a strong likelihood she would say yes, but that whole…other thing, I did _not_ know about," Peter immediately protested in his defense. "While we're on the subject though, what the heck even is a l'Cie? Seriously, I've heard people mention them twice now, and I've yet to receive an actual explanation on what they are."

Lightning stopped herself from giving a heated retort, and then moved to sit down again so that she could finally tell Peter about the topic. "A l'Cie is someone who has been branded by the fal'Cie and given great physical and magical power, all for the sole purpose of completing a Focus, or a special task, and they usually have to do so within a certain time limit. If they complete their Focus, then they turn to crystal, but if not, they're turned into monsters. Most people consider being made a l'Cie to be an honor, at least so long as it's for one of the Sanctum fal'Cie, but if someone is made into a l'Cie by a Pulse fal'Cie, then they are considered to be dangerous enemies of Cocoon. Another thing you should probably know is that once a person is made a l'Cie, they're no longer considered human, and there's no way to change a l'Cie back into a human."

While Peter did not understand all of what Lightning had just said, he did understand enough of it to get the meaning of what she was saying. "So they're like slaves to some things that consider themselves to be a higher power," he muttered to himself. "And since Serah said she was a Pulse l'Cie…"

"Don't tell me you actually bought all of that," Lightning scoffed in disbelief. "It's obvious that the whole thing was just some excuse to get me to agree to let Serah marry Snow."

"Are you even listening to yourself, Lightning," Peter asked in disbelief. "Didn't you see her face after what you said to her? Serah wasn't just hurt, she was heartbroken, because her own sister basically said that she would have no choice but to kill her, simply because her job told her to do so. More than that, you should know Serah better than anyone in the world, because she's your _sister_! Do you really think she would try to make something like that up just so you would give her your blessings to marry Snow?"

Lightning had no answer for that, because she knew Peter had a point. She did know Serah better than anyone, or at least better than most people, despite whatever distance had formed between them because of her work, and as such, she knew that Serah would never try to lie about something so serious for any reason, so why had she assumed she did? Well, the answer was pretty obvious: it was due in large part to her learning that Serah was now engaged to Snow, and Lightning was not all that fond of the tall, blonde leader of NORA, so maybe she was just looking for any excuse she could think of to lash out at him, feeling like he was trying to take Serah away from her.

Seeing how hurt Lightning was starting to look, Peter was quick to reassure her, "Look, Lightning, I'm not saying all this to be mean, or anything like that; I'm just trying to help you see reason before something happens between you and Serah that can't be undone. In a way, I kinda get how Serah likely felt telling you about the whole l'Cie thing, because what had just played out is one of the more bad scenarios of what I think would happen if I ever told my aunt that I was Spider-Man. The mere idea of telling your only family about a secret that big is terrifying, especially if there's a strong chance that they'll hate you for it, but she still told you. In a way, I kinda admire her for that, because that made her a lot braver than I've ever been. I just hope that this doesn't…"

"…I get it, Peter," Lightning finally sighed in defeat. "Maybe…I did overreact and shut her out when I should've tried to tell her that it would be okay. I was just so upset about the fact that she had agreed to marry Snow that I didn't want to listen or believe anything she was telling me. I'm a horrible sister, aren't I?"

"No, don't say that," Peter immediately argued, wrapping an arm around Lightning in comfort. "You're a very good sister, who's…very overprotective of her only younger sibling and is a real stubborn piece of work. You just needed a little help seeing the problem from another perspective."

Lightning's eyes narrowed a little when Peter called her a stubborn piece of work, but she was still able to get his meaning, and nodded a little into his shoulder as a sign of thanks for what he was saying. After another minute or so, she noticed that Serah had left her birthday gift on the table, and she immediately walked over to open it up to see what was inside, with Peter following after her to see as well. After unwrapping the box and opening the lid, Lightning was surprised to find that inside was actually a survival knife with a black handle and a slightly curved blade, but after a moment, it actually made sense that Serah would give her this. She knew that Serah was probably worried about her whenever she was on duty, so she figured that Serah had decided to give her this as her own way of making sure that Lightning was safe.

"How practical," Lightning mused to herself, now suddenly feeling much worse about how she had treated Serah just a moment ago.

Peter said nothing in response to this, feeling that Lightning was truly touched by the thought behind Serah's gift, but even if he wanted to say something, he was unable to since a sudden beeping from the television suddenly caught their attention. _"We interrupt this program to bring you an urgent Sanctum bulletin,"_ the announcer said. _"Late last night, officials confirmed the presence of a Pulse fal'Cie inside the city of Bodhum. Acting with fal'Cie Eden's approval, authorities declared a state of emergency. The entire district will be quarantined in response to this crisis. This is a Sanctum bulletin…"_

Lightning and Peter had both stopped listening after that point, but not just because the message was now repeating itself, but because of what the message had just unveiled, and because of what it had confirmed for Lightning without even the slightest doubt. Serah really had been telling the truth, and if the city was being put on lockdown, her sister was now in trouble, because of what Lightning had said to her. Lightning's worry must have shown on her face, because a minute later, she registered that Peter had changed out of his civilian attire and into his Spider-Man suit, sans mask, which allowed her to see his determined face. "Don't worry, Lightning. I'm going to head out and try to track down Serah and Snow, hopefully before anyone else does," Peter promised. "You just make sure you're ready to act for whatever happens afterwards."

"You do realize that if you get in the way of the Sanctum, you'll be branded a threat to all of Cocoon, right," Lightning asked.

"Well it wouldn't be the first time," Peter shrugged as he donned his mask, and a minute later, Spider-Man was swinging away from Lightning's house, with Lightning saying a silent prayer in the hopes that Spidey would make it before she started getting ready for the worst case scenario.

* * *

Spidey was really hoping that when he found Snow and Serah, they would be somewhere safe and well out of harm's way, but unfortunately, they were the farthest thing from both, because when he did find them, they were being chased by a number of soldiers, some of which were wearing what he knew to be armor of the Guardian Crop, but most of them were wearing the dark gold and brown colors of PSICOM. What made matters worse is that most of the PSICOM soldiers were actually shooting at the fleeing couple, even before Snow had pulled them both onto an airbike and taken to the skies, but after he had done so, the soldiers had switched to using both guns and rockets to try and bring them down. Seeing his friends in such serious danger was all the prompting that Spider-Man needed to get in on the action, and the first thing he did when doing so was pull away or web up as many of the weapons that the soldiers were using as possible before he landed before them.

"Sorry fellas, but I'm afraid the shooting range is on the other side of town, so I'm gonna have to take away or disable your guns until you give a proper apology for putting innocent civilians in danger," Spidey quipped as he crouched down before the soldiers.

"It's that spider guy from the news," one of the PSICOM soldiers shouted. "I knew he was too good to be true!"

"He must be a Pulse l'Cie that's helping those fugitives escape," another one added.

"Okay, first off, just so we can avoid further confusion, I'm not a l'Cie, Pulse or otherwise. I'm just your typical, run of the mill, metahuman, or to put it more simply, a Spider-Man," the web-head corrected. "Secondly, I'm not helping fugitives, I'm helping a couple of innocent people who are freaking out because you idiots are spending your sweet time shooting at them for no reason."

"Save it, freak! We have our orders to capture or kill any and all elements from Pulse, l'Cie or otherwise before they can pose a more serious threat to Cocoon," the lead soldier stated as he pulled out a new gun and aimed it at Spider-Man, with his comrades doing the same soon after. "Now either stand aside and surrender yourself, or we will shoot to kill."

"Yeah, good luck with that," Spider-Man shrugged in defeat before he leapt into the air once again and started dealing with the soldiers one by one. It started off with him disarming them once again, this time hoping that he had removed all weapons from their persons, and then he switched to a more up close confrontation by delivering a number of punches and kicks that made sure that the soldiers were down for the count, even if he did not web them up after knocking them out. A rather simple strategy for a simple fight, but Spider-Man did not have time for anything less than a quick and simple plan of attack, because Snow and Serah needed his help right now, especially when he saw that they were now being chased through the air by a pair of enemy aircrafts, which had wasted no time in firing on them once they were within range.

Spider-Man's eyes immediately narrowed behind his mask, and he was soon just webbing up the remaining soldiers so that he could hurry up and get to his friends, but since there were no tall buildings or structures in the area for him to swing from, he knew he would have to improvise, and he did so by shooting a pair of webs onto a pair of lamp posts, and then pulling them back as hard as he could. When he let the webs go taunt, he was instantly sent sling-shooting forward through the air until he finally managed to land on top of one of the attacking aircrafts. If the pilot registered his arrival, Spider-Man did not give him much time to try and shake him off, because he had managed to quickly swing around and jam up the ship's guns with his webs before he knocked out its engines with a few hard punches into the vehicle. Before the ship had started to fall too far out of the sky, Spider-Man leapt clear and used a web to pull himself over to the next ship, hoping that he could knock it out before Snow's bike was sent falling out of the sky.

Unfortunately, he never got the chance to try, because a second later, he heard Snow calling out to Serah, and he immediately looked up to see the man reaching out to someone that was on the platform high up on the structure he had come to learn was known as the Bodhum Vestige, until a sudden pulse of energy suddenly blasted him away. That same blast also blasted the airship Spidey was currently perched on top of out of the air, but at that moment, Spider-Man was more concerned about the blonde who was currently falling out of the sky on a damaged and out of control airbike. After jumping clear of the enemy airship, Spider-Man immediately did everything he could to reach Snow as fast as possible, until he had finally landed on top of the blonde's airbike, drawing Snow's attention to him as soon as he heard the web-head land.

"Hang on," Spider-Man shouted as he lifted Snow out of his seat and quickly tapped a couple of controls on his free web shooter before he jumped clear with the large man held firmly in his grasp. "Please work, please work, please work," Spider-Man then muttered to himself, hoping that Snow would not hear him with the wind rushing through his ears, and he then aimed the free web shooter above their heads and fired out a web-line that then expanded itself into a web-parachute that slowly ease his and Snow's descent down to the beach below them. "Phew. Well, I guess it's safe to say that at least that new upgrade works," Spidey commented to himself just before they both touched down on the sand. Spidey then helped steady Snow as the blonde fell onto one knee and asked, "Hey, you okay man?"

"No, I'm definitely not okay, Spider-Man. Serah's in there," Snow replied as he gazed up at the Vestige.

"Okay, and why is she in there," Spidey asked, prompting Snow to give more details.

"Because that's where the fal'Cie who made her into a l'Cie is. We figured that if we went there, the fal'Cie would tell us what Serah's Focus was, which help us convince Lightning that we were telling her the truth. Before I could jump onto the platform with her though, some kind of silver liquid dragged her inside and then the door snapped shut before it released that energy blast," Snow informed him.

Spidey may not agree with what Snow had planned to do, but he did see where he was coming from. If he and Serah could find anything that would help them prove that Serah was telling Lightning the truth, it would likely be something from the same thing that made the younger Farron a l'Cie in the first place. There was just one thing he did not get. "Why would you need the fal'Cie to tell you what Serah's Focus was?"

"…Because she said that she didn't know what her Focus was," Snow revealed. "Serah had no clue what her Focus was supposed to be, so she can't complete it without the fal'Cie telling her what it was."

Now everything made sense to Spider-Man, but that did not change what had happened here, or what they had to do now. "Alright, come on, Snow. Let's get you out of here before those soldiers drag you off to prison or worse. You won't be able to help your girlfriend at all if your locked up or dead," Spidey said as he lifted the man over his shoulders so that he could support him as they walked.

"Wait…how do you know my name," Snow asked, since he was pretty sure that he never told Spider-Man himself.

"Uh…that lieutenant from the other day called you that, so I just figured that was your name," Spider-Man quickly shrugged in reply.

Snow nodded in acceptance of that and let Spider-Man carry him back up to the main street until he was able to walk on his own, at which point he said, "By the way, Serah's not just my girlfriend, she's my bride. Or my bride-to-be, anyway, but if we want to have any chance of saving her, we're going to need tell Lightning and get her help. I just hope she won't be too mad at me to do anything."

"Oh, well congratulations," Spider-Man nodded, for which Snow thanked him, and the two were soon heading over to Lightning's house, both knowing that the minute she heard about this new development, she would be pissed. They just had to hope that she would not be pissed enough to kill them both before trying to do something completely insane all on her own.

* * *

 ** _AN: I'm gonna be totally honest, this chapter turned out to be longer than I had thought it would be, and this is with a few things taken out of it._**

 ** _Lightning: Such as?_**

 ** _AN: Well, originally, I was going to have a scene where Spidey would save Serah and Vanille, but I figured that if I did that, then the only people left for him to meet would be Hope and Sazh. Well that, and there was also the fact that the day Spidey went to spar with Lightning took place on the very same day that Serah met Vanille, so that did not quite work out without me saying that Spider-Man would've rushed through all of the other things he wanted to do that day._**

 ** _Another thing that did not quite make the cut was the fireworks festival on Day 11, in which we would've seen everything about what Spidey did that night, which would've included a brief chat with some of the NORA members, and an eventual encounter with Lightning and Amador, during which the latter would've assumed that the two were a couple or something along those lines._**

 ** _Lightning: Speaking of which [aims gunblade at author] care to explain why you made me look like some little school girl after sharing some "moments" with Spider-Man?_**

 ** _AN: What? The main pairing for this story is you and Spider-Man, so obviously I've got to include some points that shows you two starting to have steadily growing feelings for each other. Now put that thing away, you know you need me to keep this story going. [waits until after Lightning has holstered her gunblade] Thank you. And also, before anyone asks, yes, I had Serah tease the two a little, because let's be honest, how often do you hear of a younger sibling who doesn't tease their older sibling about a relationship and feelings they may or may not have for a boy/girl?_**

 ** _Serah: Speaking of which, I kinda liked that little scene before Lightning's little birthday dinner and things went bad. You know, where Peter gave her that necklace._**

 ** _AN: Ah yes, thank you for that reminder Serah. If you've seen Light's wiki page of the Final Fantasy Wiki, you'll know that it says that Lightning does in fact wear such a pendant, but what I can't help but notice whenever I've watched the cutscene movie is that you almost never see it even if you look for it. Aside from that, I thought it would be interesting to have Spidey give her said necklace both for that little sweet moment, and for another reason that you'll all learn about later on in the story. It won't be right away, but it will be revealed later._**

 ** _Snow: You know what I'm glad to see had changed at least a little? What had happened after Lightning got upset with Serah and caused her to run out in tears. [flinches a little when he sees Lightning's gunblade in his face]_**

 ** _AN: [in bored tone] Light, you can't kill Snow. [Lightning holsters gunblade again] Yeah, Peter managed to talk some semblance of sense into everyone before things got to heated between Lightning and Snow, and yes, he will most likely be playing referee between those two for a long time to come, be it as Peter or as Spider-Man. And then of course, we added in our friendly neighborhood hero having a chat with Lightning to make her see reason behind Serah's story, and how hard it must've been for her both to tell her about the l'Cie thing and to hear Light had said afterwards, including that little comparison that he threw in, which is actually pretty accurate when you think about it._**

 ** _Spider-Man: Real quick; is there any reason why you made it so that I wasn't able to help Snow save Serah before she was taken prisoner by Anima?_**

 ** _AN: Well if that didn't happen then Snow and Lightning wouldn't have had much of a reason to go down there. Well...maybe Snow since he and NORA ended up leading a resistance effort to save the people getting purged, but aside from that, Serah was the whole reason why those guys went down there and started fighting against PSICOM. You take away a big reason like that, and the story suddenly becomes much, much, much shorter. Far too short for my liking, and probably anyone else's really. Sorry, Serah._**

 ** _Serah: No worries. I'm cool with it this time._**

 ** _AN: Well, with that, we've covered the events of Days 7-12, and next chapter is the start of Day 13 and the main events of FFXIII! Hooray! We're getting to the good stuff! Don't believe me? Take a look as you move Onto the Preview!..._**

 ** _The Purge has begun, and Lightning uses it to her advantage to get to Serah, with a little extra help from both Spider-Man, and the father of the boy that Spidey had saved just the other day. Battles of resistance are now breaking out against PSICOM in the area known as the Hanging Edge, and our heroes are all caught up right in the middle of it all, as one fight leads to many different trials and tragedies, leaving them all wondering just what will they have to do in order to make it through in one piece. Find out just who will survive or not, and how far everyone will go to carry out their own missions, next time._**

 ** _Please read and review, and swing on back for next time, fellow true believers!_**


	4. The Purge

_**AN: Hey everyone, we are back for another round of Spidey's epic adventures in the world of FFXIII, and with this chapter, we'll be diving into the main story of the game at last!**_

 _ **[audience applause and cheers]**_

 _ **Yeah, you know you're excited, so why are we wasting time with this nonsense? Let's get it rolling already!**_

 _ **Lightning: Really? You're not even going to dignify any reviews with a response?**_

 _ **Snow: Sis, do you really see any reviews from the last chapter he could answer?**_

 _ **Lightning: [punches Snow and sends him flying] I'm not your sister!**_

 _ **Spider-Man: Not yet, anyway. [cringes a little when he sees Lightning glaring at him while cracking her knuckles] I'm just gonna be really quiet now.**_

 _ **AN: Yeah, right Spidey, but Snow does have a bit of a point. All I can really say in response to most of our last reviews for this story is thanks and glad that you're all enjoying the story so far. Although, in response to a guest review left by "Seem14", I can say that Spider-Man will be revealing his secret identity to Snow and Serah later on down the line, but that won't happen for a while, given the events that will be taking place soon enough.**_

 _ **Oh, and in answer to the review left by "Ghost Rider-SpiritOfVengeance", haha! I see what you did there.**_

 _ **Now, if that's everything, let's get on down to Hanging Edge, where Spidey will be joining everyone in fighting the Purge, and where he'll be encountering two more FFXIII heroes. Exciting stuff, huh?**_

 _ **I do not own anything from any Spider-Man or Final Fantasy franchises or any other franchise mentioned in this story.**_

* * *

 **Chapter 4: The Purge**

Lightning had taken the news of Serah being taken prisoner inside the Vestige pretty well, actually, if you call punching Snow in the face and then needing to be held back by Spider-Man for a couple of minutes to make sure she did not kill him well, but before any of the three could make any sort of plans to get inside the Vestige, word came through that it was about to be moved to some place known as Hanging Edge as part of something called the Purge. Hearing this news was all that Snow needed to hear before promising once again to save Serah and rushing out of the house to round up his friends, leaving Lightning to explain to Peter what the Purge even was. Needless to say, the web-head was not happy about what he had learned. Forcing people to either ship out to the world of Pulse or die was not something anyone would be happy to hear about, and given the way Lightning talked about it, it was clear that what she explained was only the soft-sell that the government sold to the rest of the larger public to cover up the true purpose of the Purge. If he were a few years younger and less experienced, Peter would likely have stormed out of the house in a very futile attempt to stop the Purge on his own, but thankfully, he knew better, and he also knew that Lightning saw this as an opportunity, because he could see it as well. If they could get on one of the trains being used in the Purge, they could get to Hanging Edge and into the Vestige to save Serah. It was a simple plan, yet a bit insane, and that was all the reason why Lightning and Peter both agreed to do it. Well that, and the fact that they did not really have any better ideas, so that night, Peter found a way to slip back into the GC base so he could make sure all of his new tech was in top notch condition and his supply of web fluid was as close to maximum as he could get it in preparation for their little rescue mission.

The very next morning, Spider-Man had managed to slip into the station without anyone ever noticing he was there, and it did not take him long to find the train that Lightning would be planning to board, especially once he saw her strolling up to one of the PSICOM soldiers with a full show of confidence and purpose. When he saw the soldier start muttering something to Lightning, he began to worry a little about her chances at being able to get aboard, and those worries only increased when he saw her hand over her gunblade, but he had to let out a little sigh of relief when the soldier finally directed her to the back of one of the two lines that had formed. He was still worried about the fact that she was now unarmed, despite the fact she had shown that she was very capable without her signature weapon, but the fact that Lightning was able to get herself a way onto the train was good enough for the moment. They could always get her gunblade back later. Spider-Man continued to watch from his hiding spot for a little while longer, just to make sure that she got on the train he suspected she would board, allowing him to see a man run over to the same line as Lightning and whisper something to her before they both moved up in the line and finally boarded said train. Once the last person had finally been ushered aboard, the web-head swung himself onto the train after making sure that no one would notice him doing so, earning himself a free ride out of Bodhum and to Lightning's next destination. All that was left to do at that point was wait until it was time to make a move.

 _'I know that this train is being used for a really messed up purpose and all, but for some reason, a part of me still can't help but feel a little bad about hitching a free ride like this,'_ Spidey thought to himself as he relaxed a bit on the roof of the fast moving vehicle, as the train sped along the line and through the countryside. Lightning had said he would know they were getting close when they entered a cave and eventually crashed through a gate of some kind, but so far, the web-head was only seeing bright, sunny skies, and large cliffs galore, just as he had been ever since they had gotten well enough away from Bodhum several hours ago. _'Of course, I can't help but find it a little weird that in order to get to Pulse, we need to head down. I mean, do they expect people to think there's like some kind of secret portal, or rocket, or something down in Hanging Edge that'll take people to Pulse or something?'_

Spidey's musings were quickly brought to a halt when he noticed that the shadows had finally increased to the level that almost blocked out the sun completely, and it took no time at all for him to notice that they had entered the cave. Thinking it would probably be better if he was not on top of the train when it went through that, the web-head quickly raced over so that he would be hanging onto the back of the last car, and immediately braced himself when he felt the rest of the train crash through the gate. A minute later, he could hear the sounds of people panicking in confusion and fear, along with rapid gunshots, which could only mean that Lightning had likely made her move, and that meant he needed to make his as well. The only downside to that was that he had to move very far up the train in order to get inside any of the cars, as he had realized earlier on that most of the passenger trains that contained the people being purged were all heavily reinforced, so there was no way he was going to get in from there. Good thing he intended to come in from the side opposite of where Lightning would be moving from all along.

After finally making his way to the car closest to the front, Spidey leapt into action, and swung himself down from the roof, through one of the windows, and into the train car with a loud crash. He did not plan to stand still waiting for someone to come and see what had happened though, and he immediately sprang forward so that he was racing through the train cars by the time any PSICOM soldiers had shown up to try and attack him. When said soldiers finally did show up, they did not even have a chance to raise their guns, as Spidey immediately dispatched them with a quick combination of his webs and a little show of his personal martial arts style. He did not use his webs to speed up his progress through the train, as he was trying to save as much web fluid as possible, but that did not mean getting through was slow going for him unless he had to stop and wait for a door to open. As he was knocking out a fifth PSICOM soldier during his progress to wherever Lightning currently was, he spotted the soldier who was holding onto Lightning's gunblade from the corner of his eye, and immediately fired a glob of webbing into said soldier's face before he rushed him and swiped the weapon away from him with a quick burst of speed and reflexes.

"Sorry pal, but that's not yours," Spidey informed the soldier before knocking him out with a hard elbow to the head. He then turned to move into the next car, tempted to use Lightning's gunblade as he continued forward, but when the door opened up, he had to jump a little when he saw Lightning on the other side aiming a gun at the door while glowing with a faint blue aura and standing on the ceiling. "WHOA, HEY! First off, same side, remember," Spidey shouted with his arms snapping up in surrender. "Second, why does it look like you're trying to steal my thing? Wall-crawling is my shtick, Lightning, and I would appreciate it, if you stick to your own."

Lightning rolled her eyes a bit before she dropped down onto the floor just as the aura faded from around her. "Hey, when you've got something like Gravity Bombs at your disposal, you tend to use them to turn the playing field in your favor," Lightning shrugged. "Besides, it looks like you were thinking about stealing my thing already, so I'd say we're even."

Spidey furrowed his brow behind his mask in confusion until he realized she was referring to the fact that he was currently holding her gunblade in one hand. "Oh, this? No, no, I was not doing anything like that. I just thought you might like your favorite toy back," Spidey explained as he handed it out to her. "I'm pretty sure you'd prefer your gunblade over that thing you're currently using. But then again, if you _really_ don't want it…"

Lightning immediately snatched her gunblade away from Spider-Man just as he was trailing off, and then marched over to the nearest door to open it up for when they finally reached a point where they could get off. It was at this point that the two were joined by the rest of the passengers, who had all found some sort of weapon to arm themselves with, and were being led by a man with a pair of bazookas strapped onto his back, and possessed a familiar looking afro. "So far, so good," the man reported. "They all wanna fight."

"Good for them," Lightning remarked as she readied her gunblade for action, while Spidey rolled his shoulders a little to make sure he would not get any cramps anytime soon.

A minute later, the man seemed to notice the other person who was there with Lightning, and his eyes immediately widened at the sight of him. "Hey, you're that guy who saved my boy the other day…you're Spider-Man! Hey, everyone, check it out! Spider-Man's here," the man exclaimed to the rest of the train, earning murmurs of awe and excitement at this news.

"Yep, your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, in the flesh and at your service," Spidey announced. "And you're…uh…"

"Wait, you don't remember me," the man asked surprised.

"No, no, I do; you're Dajh's dad, who's name I never did get," Spider-Man quickly replied.

"Oh…right," the man nodded in remembrance. "Well, name's Sazh Katzroy."

"Well, nice to officially meet you, Sazh. Now how about we make sure everyone gets through this madness in one piece," Spider-Man asked.

"I'm liking the sound of the that, Spider-Man," Sazh nodded.

"Hey, no need for formalities; just call me Spidey, and…" Spider-Man started to say before that familiar tingling sensation in his head started buzzing in warning. "Uh-oh. Everyone brace yourselves against something! We've got incoming, and they're not looking to exchange pleasant greetings!"

"I see them," Lightning suddenly said from where she had been standing, looking out one of the nearby doors. A minute later, everyone was stumbling over each other in an attempt to reach something they could hold onto as the train shuddered and shook under the explosion that had resulted from a barrage of gunfire, courtesy of the aerial fighters that had just swooped past them. Those same fighters were now coming about to make another run, and Lightning had no intention of being a target for any longer than necessary. "Give me that," Lightning told Sazh as she snatched one of the bazookas he had just finished preparing for action.

"What the…" Sazh started to say.

"Sorry about her. From my limited experience in hanging out with her, Lightning's not really what you'd call a people person," Spidey apologized on the rosette's behalf.

"Shut up," Lightning snapped at Spider-Man as she concentrated on aiming her newly acquired weapon on one of the nearest airships. The minute that she had it firmly in her crosshairs, Lightning let a rocket blast out, and the ship was soon gone in a fiery explosion. The other ships easily evaded what was left of the recently destroyed one, and came around to the back of the train, prompting Lightning to turn around and aim in the direction that they had flown towards before she fired another shot. This one was not quite as lucky as the first, as she ended up hitting the archway that the train had previously passed through instead of her intended target.

Before anyone could say or do anything in response to that, one of the surviving ships suddenly blasted the tracks with a serious of lightning bolts until one of them struck the rear-most train cars and derailed nearly the entire train as a result. Spider-Man was quick to act, and had immediately jumped out of the vehicle so that he could fire off some web-lines that would ensure everyone who was still in those cars would not fall to their dooms, but instead, easily land somewhere closer to solid ground, or whatever was considered as such in this area. Once he had safely lowered said cars to said area, Spidey leapt into the air and again and took off after the rest of the train, which was still speeding along the tracks as fast as his web-swinging could take him. As he was going, he took a moment to look and listen around at his current surroundings, and he did not need superhuman senses or special training to know that the various pockets of explosions, people screaming, and gunfire meant that he and Lightning were not the only ones who were not going along with PSICOM's little plan quietly.

 _'Geez. This whole place sounds like World War III, and if we want to find Snow and his pals in all of this, we're going to need a whole lot of help or some kind of sign to lead us in the right direction,'_ Spidey thought to himself after he finally landed on the side of the train again. He was stirred from his thoughts when the train car suddenly shook, nearly causing him to lose his balance and his hold on the train, and then took note of the fact that the train had been brought to a grinding halt. "This can't be good," Spider-Man commented aloud, and he quickly swung himself up onto the train's roof again just as Lightning had jumped up there through the hole that had been created in the roof from the airship's last attack.

What greeted the web-head was a large machine that looked like a massive, white scorpion with four large buzz-saws where the pincers would be, sharp-looking points all along it's pointed tail, and a number of search lights positioned beneath its head. On the other side of things, he immediately spotted Lightning with her gunblade ready in its blade-mode, staring down the massive, mechanical monster without even batting an eye, while Sazh was just climbing out of the car and onto the roof with them. When the robot suddenly leapt into the air and slammed down on top of the train directly in front of them, Sazh immediately jumped back and started crawling away in fear, clearly showing he was not used to dealing with this kind of thing, despite how he had seemed so willing to fight not too long ago.

"Hey, hey! Let's be rational now," Sazh shouted, though whether he was addressing the machine or his two current companions, Spidey was not sure he wanted to know. It did not really matter in the end, as he was soon scrambling away from the mech as it took a swipe at them, while Lightning and Spider-Man both just back flipped away to avoid its large arm.

"Okay, someone want to explain what the heck this thing is," Spider-Man asked.

"A Manasvin Warmech. One of the mecha deployed by PSICOM," Lightning answered, shortly.

"So they're sending the big guns out," Sazh gasped once he had managed to get to his feet and pull out the guns he had strapped to his sides. "What now?"

"Watch and learn," Lightning replied, preparing herself for battle.

"Uh…which one of us should he be watching and learning from, because somehow I don't think he'd be able to learn much from me other than the fact that he should not try the stuff I do at home, or ever since he doesn't have spider powers," Spidey quipped to Lightning as he assumed his own battle stance.

"Just shut up and get ready to start webbing the thing," Lightning retorted.

"But of course, fair lady," Spider-Man replied in a faux British accent.

The only response the web-head received to his quip was Lightning rolling her eyes, and a minute later, the two were charging into battle against the Warmech. Lightning was the first one to land a strike by slashing against the Warmech's front with her gunblade, leaving it open for Spider-Man to leap over her and fire out a barrage of web-bullets at it, hoping that he might somehow get lucky and blind the machine. While he was in the air though, he forgot to keep an eye out for the machine's tail, and ended up not seeing it swinging towards him until his Spider-Sense warned him a moment too late. When the long appendage had struck the web-head, he was sent flying over the side of the train, and was thus forced to throw out a web-line so he could swing himself under the elevated tracks and back on top of the vehicle, where Lightning was quickly spinning and flipping around in order to avoid the Warmech's large arms and the buzz-saws attached to them.

Seeing that Lightning was in such trouble, prompted Spidey to test out one of the new upgrades to his web shooters, which he immediately aimed for one of the sets of buzz-saws. Upon firing the wrist device at the spinning blades, a small pellet shot out and released a vast amount of webs that completely ensnared the lower arm and the blades, bringing the buzz-saws to a grinding halt, much to Lightning's temporary shock, and Sazh's jaw-dropping surprise. Lightning quickly shook it off though, and took advantage of the opening Spider-Man had given her to charge in and land another series of blows on the Warmech with her gunblade. Right when the Warmech was preparing to swing its other, web-free arm at Lightning, Sazh finally snapped out of his shock and opened fire with his guns, distracting the Warmech long enough for Lightning and Spider-Man to both move back to stand next to him, with the latter firing out a few web-bullets to assist Sazh in his barrage.

Once they were both standing alongside Sazh, Lightning looked over to Spider-Man and asked, "Care to explain what that was just now?"

"What what was," Spider-Man asked. He had a pretty good idea what Lightning was referring to, but he just wanted to mess with her a little. Lightning was not going to have any of it though, as she just glared at him until he finally gave in and gave a proper answer. "Oh, you mean when I got those buzz-saws all tangled up in webbing," Spidey said, acting like he had just realized the fact. "It's just a little upgrade I made to my web shooters a couple of days ago based off of something a fellow hero and good friend of mine had come up with. It's called Impact Webbing."

"Any chance you could throw out some more of it, 'cause I think this guy's about to charge or something," Sazh said, bringing the two's attention back to the Warmech just in time to see it jump up into the air and onto the tracks. They were all sure that it was about to unleash some type of powerful attack, but they immediately started to become more concerned when the Warmech instead grabbed onto the sides of the train with both arms and started shaking it around, clearly planning to try and throw both it and them off the rails.

"Fall back," Lightning shouted as she led the other two in running over to the next car behind them. Just as they had reached the rear-most point of the second car, the Warmech stopped shaking the train, immediately telling the three that it was not likely to succeed in its plan to throw it off the rails anytime soon.

"Ha-ha. Not so tough now, huh," Sazh laughed in mocking of the Warmech, never noticing how Spider-Man had started signaling him to not do so the minute he started laughing. Almost as though it were in response to Sazh's mocking, the Warmech immediately fired a pair of rockets that were on the backs of its arms, which would no doubt add more power and strength to its efforts, and Sazh's smile immediately dropped at the sight. "Hey, hey that wasn't like a challenge now. Alright?"

"Then you shouldn't have said it in the first place," Spider-Man reprimanded. "Seriously man, you never say stuff like that unless you know that the other guy is really going down."

Before the two could continue their conversation, the Warmech finally managed to pull the first car up off the tracks, and the car they were currently standing on was clearly going to be pulled along soon after. When they saw the first car start being lifted up, the three immediately started running to get to the next car back as fast as they could. Despite not reaching the next car before the one they were on had started being lifted up, they did not pause in their retreat at all, as Lightning and Spider-Man were both quickly able to adjust and continue on with a series of acrobatics and slides that were almost reminiscent of when a skateboarder was sliding down a railing at some points. Soon enough, both soldier and superhero had landed safely on the next car back just as it had been forcefully decoupled from the one in front, and they immediately turned back to see that Sazh was still running down the rising train car to reach them.

"I-I'm coming," Sazh shouted as he ran while spinning his arms around wildly, much like one would if they were running down a steep hill.

"Jump/Just jump," Lightning and Spider-Man simultaneously shouted, seeing that he would not make it otherwise, and Sazh immediately did as the two ordered. Things seemed to move in slow motion for a moment as Sazh sailed through the air, until he came crashing down between Spider-Man and Lightning, landing on his hands and knees when he did. What Spider-Man did not expect, was for a small, yellow bird to land just a few inches in front of Sazh after the man had landed.

"Uh…where did that bird come from," Spidey asked in confusion.

"Worry about the chocobo later. Our friend's coming back for another round," Lightning told Spider-Man while bringing her gunblade to bear.

"This thing…won't give up," Sazh panted as he slowly returned to his feet.

"Well that's robots for you," Spider-Man tiredly sighed. "And to think I used to like 'em when I was a kid. Thank you Mysterio and so many other bad guys for ruining my childhood for me."

Neither of the other two were able to question Spider-Man on his last statement before the Warmech slammed down in front of them with an animal-like roar once again, and soon after, its head opened up to reveal a large cannon behind it that was charging to fire. No Spider-Sense was needed to know that such a weapon needed to be avoided when it fired, and Sazh and Lightning were immediately diving to either side in order to avoid the large energy blast that soon shot forward while Spider-Man jumped up into the air. While he was airborne, Spider-Man chanced a glance at the arm he had webbed up earlier and saw that the Warmech had managed to cut through the webbing, freeing up the buzz-saws, but he paid that little mind, as he had more important things to worry about. The next thing that Spidey did was fire a web-line at the top of the Warmech and pulled himself towards it's head at a high speed. When Spider-Man hit the top of the Warmech, the impact ended up denting the top quite a bit, while causing the Warmech to shudder under the powerful impact of the web-head's landing.

Seeing their opponent off-balance gave Lightning and Sazh the chance to make their own moves and attack, Sazh by firing his guns in a rapid barrage, and Lightning with her gunblade swinging in a flurry of slashes and stabs that Spidey was sure would have made guys like Blade and the Silver Samurai jealous. None of them were expecting the tail to suddenly swing forward and release a barrage of lasers on them, and as a result, Lightning was blasted back a little, and right into the line of the Warmech's arm as it geared up to take another swing at her. Just when the buzz-saws were about to cleave through her, Lightning was able to raise her gunblade and block them with her trusted weapon, but she knew she would not be able to hold it back for long, especially when she saw that it was preparing to fire another laser blast from its tail.

Thankfully, Spider-Man came to the rescue and pulled the arm back with a pair of web-lines, allowing Lightning to jump clear before the lasers struck her again. Sazh had ceased firing his guns, mostly out of worry that he might accidentally hit Spider-Man, but Spidey did not seem to have any plans of jumping off the Warmech or relinquishing his hold on the web-lines he had used to pull the arm away from Lightning before they had pushed through her guard. Instead, he just continued to pull back on them while the Warmech struggled to get free, and eventually grunted, "Let's see how you like a little off the top."

With one last hard pull, Spider-Man forced the Warmech to strike itself with its own arm, the buzz-saws cutting deeply into its head, and he instantly jumped clear while shouting for Lightning and Sazh to attack, a suggestion that both warriors took up with gusto. After being damaged by one of its own weapons, the Warmech was not able to withstand the assault from Lightning and Sazh, and soon enough, it was tipping left and right until it finally fell over the edge and down into the unseen area below them. Lightning and Spider-Man both knew that they should not drop their guard just yet though, and they were both quick to run over to the side of the train car so that they could make sure that the Warmech was not coming back up anytime soon while Sazh dropped down into a sitting position while leaning back on his hands.

"Whew! We did it," Sazh gasped in relief, only to jump a little as a number of airships soared over their heads with loud roars of thrusters.

Lightning and Spider-Man paid him little mind though until they finally decided that their opponent was not coming back for a third round, and stood up straight, the former spinning her gunblade back into its case once she did. "Robots…I _hate_ robots," Spider-Man moaned in annoyance as he followed Lightning in a departure from their current location.

Sazh did not seem to want to leave just yet, because he still had something he needed to question the two on, starting with Lightning. "Aren't you supposed to protect civilians, Soldier," the man questioned, bringing Lightning's departure to a halt and Spider-Man's soon after. "I mean you are Sanctum, aren't you? What're you doing trying to stop the Purge? Why don't you tell me that?"

"I _was_ a soldier," Lightning immediately retorted before Sazh could get any further.

"Yeah man, so…wait, what? Did you say 'I _was_ a soldier'? As in past tense," Spider-Man asked once Lightning's words registered in his mind.

Lightning did not dignify Spider-Man's question with a response, and instead leapt off the train without another word to either of the other two. Spider-Man stared after her for a moment until a small warbling sound drew his attention back over to Sazh to see that the man was holding the same little bird from earlier in his hand now. "Uh…did you seriously bring a pet with you into a warzone," the web-head asked.

"Hey, Chocobo is more than just a pet," Sazh retorted in the bird's defense before returning his attention to the little guy. "And it seems we just can't catch a break, can we, Chocobo?" The bird just chirped in reply to him, to which he replied, "Yeah that's a good question." Sazh seemed to pause in thought for a minute before he moved to climb down from the train as well, not noticing the Spider-Man was just staring at him like he had seen the man do something really strange. "Oh well, better follow her and try to stick with Spidey," Sazh sighed as he climbed down. "I'm getting too old for this."

"You? I'm the one who's been doing crazy stuff like this for ten years now," Spider-Man retorted, coming out of his stupor, right around the same time that the chocobo disappeared into Sazh's hair. _'Seriously, and I thought I was nuts, but this place just keeps getting weirder and weirder,'_ the web-head thought as he jumped down after the older man.

"So what're you doing here," Sazh asked once they were both on the ground.

"Dude, innocent people are being killed just because they lived near something that's associated with Pulse, and you're wondering why I'm here," Spider-Man asked, almost as though his reasons were obvious, which they were if you asked him.

Sazh seemed to accept that reasoning with a nod and soon joined him in following after Lightning. Barely a couple of minutes afterwards though, another squadron of low-flying airships raced past them, guns blazing, which ended up bringing the path above them down on the path that they had just come from. "Well, no going back that way," Sazh remarked.

"Then I guess it's a good thing we don't plan on going back that way any time soon," Spider-Man pointed out, and he then jogged up to Lightning so he could talk to her. "Hey, don't think I'm dropping my concerns about what you said back there. What did you mean when you said that you _were_ a soldier?" Lightning just kept walking, eyes focused on what was straight ahead, and Spider-Man could tell that she was trying to avoid discussing the matter. "Lightning, I'm not kidding here. I will bug you endlessly until you tell me."

That got Lightning's attention, because she knew that Spider-Man would back up that threat, and she would likely not enjoy it when he did, so she eventually sighed in defeat before she explained, "Soldiers are exempt from being Purged, so if I had wanted to get on the train, I would've had to quit, and I did. Simple as that."

Needless to say, Spidey was thrown for a loop at that response. "You…you did what?! That wasn't part of the plan!"

"The plan is to get to the Vestige and save Serah no matter what. Any consequences for our actions can be dealt with later. Besides, I would've ended up losing my job regardless. In case you haven't noticed, we are likely to end up being labeled as threats to Cocoon by going through with this, and that's without the fact that Serah's now a l'Cie," Lightning immediately countered.

Spider-Man could not think of anything to say to that, because he knew that Lightning was right. There was no way they would be able to complete this mission of theirs without ending up being labeled as threats to Cocoon at best, at least as far as he could see. Still, that did not mean he liked it, but not because of how it would affect him; he was perfectly okay with being considered a threat to society, having dealt with that kind of thing before back home in New York. The main reason he did not like it was because he did not want Lightning to end up having to live that kind of life, or any of his new friends really. None of them deserved that as far as he was concerned.

Just as Spider-Man was about to say something though, the old tingling of his Spider-Sense suddenly rang out, alerting him to a problem that was just ahead of them, which he immediately alerted the other two of. Lightning spotted the threat he sensed before anyone else did, and immediately waved the others towards some debris that they could take cover behind. After they had done so, Sazh and Spider-Man both peaked out to see what the problem was, and they were immediately greeted by the sight of a PSICOM soldier standing next to what they assumed to be a portal device of some kind. A minute later, the PSICOM soldier tapped a control on his arm, and a pair of large, dog-like beasts with strange glowing armor burst out of the portal, while the device itself fell to the ground.

At that point, Sazh felt that he finally had to provide an additional comment on their situation, as well as that of everyone else who was currently fighting against their upcoming enemies. "Not wanting to get Purged I get, but taking on trained soldiers?"

"Hey, when you're forced from your home to be carted off somewhere that everyone has said you don't want to be, you tend to stop thinking rationally," Spider-Man shrugged, his mind already thinking of a few things he saw on the news back when mutant registration was on the verge of being passed.

"Besides, better to die than get sent to Pulse. It's hell without the brimstone," Lightning added.

"Yeah, well hell's not sounding too bad, 'cause this place ain't exactly paradise," Sazh pointed out, nodding at both their surrounding and the creatures that had just appeared in front of them when he did.

"Let's see you say that after you've actually been to a place that is not just like hell, but actually is hell," Spider-Man immediately retorted, thinking back to a few times he had teamed-up with Doctor Strange and the like. When both Sazh and Lightning looked at him in questioning surprise, he immediately raised his hands and said, "Long story; don't ask. More importantly, what the heck are those things?"

Lightning knew that Peter was asking about the monsters that had just come out of the portal, and immediately jumped into a short explanation while making a note to ask Spider-Man about that long story later on. "Domesticated peacekeepers. Nothing to worry about."

"Maybe not for Soldier Girl, but the rest of us are trying to stay alive," Sazh argued.

"Uh excuse me? I could probably handle those overgrown mutts easily, and I'm not a soldier," Spider-Man pointed out.

"Still doesn't changed the fact that-hey," Sazh shouted as both Lightning and Spider-Man took off to attack the PSICOM agent and his recently acquired pets. It barely took either of them any time at all to prove their points, and Sazh was left thinking that he would likely be facing a lot of action similar to this for a while to come.

* * *

Sazh's guess turned out to be rather accurate, because it seemed like the little unlikely trio found themselves fighting monsters and PSICOM left and right for a long time, and they were not the only ones dealing with such difficulties. As they were traveling along, they had the unfortunate…pleasure of seeing various groups of rebels trying to fight back against PSICOM, only to be slaughtered by the soldiers or the monsters that they were sending out into the field. Sazh had called the sight of these atrocities cold-blooded murder, but Spider-Man had more than a few other definitions that he felt would be far more fitting that just simply cold-blooded murder, and not one of them was pleasant. Lightning kept her opinion quiet, but that did not mean that she was any less disgusted than the two men she was currently traveling with.

Eventually, it seemed that the three were able to finally catch a break, as a long stretch soon came before them with not a single monster or soldier in sight. The only problem was, if something was too good to be true, it usually was, a fact that Spider-Man knew all too well, and was soon reminded of when his Spider-Sense started screaming at him. He barely even needed to look around to see why, and the minute he did, he reacted on instinct and jumped on top of both Lightning and Sazh in an attempt to shield them with his body while shouting, "HIT THE DECK!"

A minute later, an airship crashed right into the path in front of them, exploding the minute it did and taking the way forward with it after it blew, while the three were forced to deal with the searing winds and heat that had come with the shockwave of its destruction. The three could also hear a few screams from people who were not as fortunate as them, but they were a bit more concerned with not being blasted away until the shockwave finally passed and the smoke from the explosion began to fade away. "You…You guys okay," Spider-Man asked as he started to rise up from his position above the other two.

"Get off me," Lightning snarled at the web-head as she roughly pushed him off her person.

"Yeah, you're definitely okay," Spider-Man grumbled in regards to the rosette. "Oh, and by the way, you're welcome!"

Lightning ignored Spider-Man's griping in favor of analyzing what was once their way forward, while Sazh slowly stood back up along with Spidey. Unlike the former soldier of the three, Sazh was a bit more courteous and quickly thanked Spider-Man for the save, something Spidey was quite grateful for before joining Lightning in her analysis of their situation. "So…do we turn back," Sazh finally asked after a minute.

"There's no time," Lightning immediately replied, making it clear that doing so was not an option.

"Then what do you suggest we do," Sazh demanded.

Lightning said nothing in response, save for a sharp order for the old man to keep quiet, and then walked up to the edge of the destroyed path. Once she was there, she snapped her fingers and was soon encompassed in the aura of an active Gravity Bomb before she started to float up and away. It quickly became clear what she intended to do, and neither Sazh nor Spider-Man were very fond of the idea. "Hey! Wait," Sazh shouted before he immediately grabbed Lightning, much to her shock. "No, no, don't leave us!"

"Let go," Lightning grunted as she tried to push Sazh off.

"The hell no! You and Spidey are my only way out of here," Sazh protested as he struggled to keep his hold, neither of them noticing how Spidey was trying to get them both to settle down.

Eventually, Lightning managed to free herself from the older man's grasp just enough so that she could deliver a hard knee to his gut, allowing her to slap him off of her and back down to the ground, where he was soon letting out a pained groan. "Yeah, not gonna lie, dude. You kinda deserved that," Spider-Man told Sazh before turning his attention to Lightning, who was now having trouble reactivating her Gravity Bomb, much to her frustration. "And as for you, Sakura, I know you're worried, but we're gonna make it together, okay?"

"…Fine. And by the way, wrong again," Lightning sighed in defeat before letting a small smile reach her face at how Spider-Man barely suppressed a groan of frustration at his continued failure to guess her real name. She shook it off though, knowing there were more important things to worry about right now, and asked, "So what would you recommend?"

Spider-Man could not help but smirk under his mask before he spread his arms wide and said, "Look around, and what do you see?"

"Uh…death, destruction, low flying things trying to kill us," Sazh guessed.

"Besides that, Sazh," Spider-Man clarified in a tired tone.

"A lot of really tall structures and destroyed paths and train tracks," Lightning shrugged, wanting Spider-Man to get on with it.

"Yes, that is close, actually," Spidey confirmed. "But you know what I see? The perfect place for me to really cut loose and get swinging." Seeing that the other two were not quite getting his meaning, Spider-Man went on to add, "Basically, I can have one of you ride on my back while I carry the other one, and web-swing us to our destination."

"Wait, you mean you want to go swingin' through the air while carrying us like a couple of sacks of potatoes," Sazh asked, his nervousness at this plan showing in his voice.

"Well, kind of," Spider-Man shrugged.

"Forget it! You try to carry me at all, let alone while swinging around on one of those web-lines of yours, and I will make you suffer," Lightning threatened.

"Fine. Ruin all of my fun," Spider-Man grumbled in defeat before he started to look around for something to give him another idea.

In the end though, Sazh ended up beating him to it. "Hey, that might get us across! Right there," he called out, pointing to a large, flying machine that seemed to be raising a pathway similar to the one they were on. "Right?"

"Looks that way," Lightning nodded in reply.

"Okay then. I'll swing ahead to clear out any resistance and meet you guys there," Spider-Man said, and before anyone could argue, the web-head was already leaping into the air and swinging away on a web-line.

"WOO-HOO! I'VE MISSED THIS," Spider-Man exclaimed excitedly as he swung through the air towards the transport, spinning, turning, and twisting as he dismounted from one web-line to the next. For a long time now, web-swinging had become not only Spider-Man's fastest method of travel, but also a great way for him to just relax a bit. Sure, some might say that swinging several stories up in the air on a thin web-line like Spidey did would be more terrifying than relaxing, but for him, there was truly nothing else like it, and there was not really much of an area where he could really cut loose and web-swing in Bodhum, so he fully intended to enjoy as much web-swinging as he could while it lasted.

His fun did have to come to an end though, seeing as the transport was not that far away even if he had traveled over to it on foot, and he soon came to a landing on the transport, with several PSICOM soldiers standing by the controls waiting to greet him, along with one in fancy, white armor that clearly told the web-head who was leading the pack of soldiers. "Well, well, the infamous Spider-Man," the leading PSICOM soldier chuckled. "We have orders to either bring you into custody or kill you on sight, so I'd suggest you surrender peacefully. I'd hate for this to turn ugly."

"Trust me, pal, you don't need my help with that. I mean really, are you guys going for an intimidating look or one that clearly says 'I'm a big idiot' with those outfits," Spider-Man immediately quipped.

"So you really do have a mouth on you," the PSICOM leader said as he pulled out a collapsible spear that immediately extended to its full length once it was out. "I'll be more than happy to silence it."

"Yeah, I've seen this movie before," Spider-Man immediately retorted, and he then sprang into action.

Taking out the grunts was simple enough, seeing as they went down after being struck with a pair of blows and a bit of impact webbing to keep them that way, but their leader actually proved to be a bit more of a challenge for Spider-Man. The man actually seemed to be able to put up a fight beyond just shooting at his enemies, and his weapon was clearly not just for show. Spider-Man was actually finding himself trying as hard as he normally would in a fight against someone like Kraven the Hunter as he fought this particular enemy, but that did not mean that it would be a problem for him. After spinning and flipping away from the PSICOM leader, Spider-Man immediately started firing off a series of web-bullets, only for them to be deflected by the soldier's staff as he charged the web-head in order to close the distance as fast as possible. This ended up being just what Spidey wanted though, and after evading the next few swings of the spear weapon, when the PSICOM soldier was about to bring it down on him again, Spider-Man easily caught the weapon in his hands, and used it to pull the soldier forward as he spun around to deliver a hard elbow jab to his gut.

While the soldier was still reeling from Spider-Man's blow, the web-swinger managed to pull his weapon away from him, and then delivered a pair of kicks to further disorient him. After he delivered a hard right to the soldier, a quick flurry of movements allowed Spider-Man to be positioned directly above his PSICOM opponent, giving him the chance to force the soldier down onto the ground with a hard kick from both feet, where he remained due to being knocked unconscious and the webs that Spider-Man encased him with. "If it makes you feel any better, you actually put up more of a fight than these other tools did," Spider-Man told the unconscious soldier, and he then proceeded to lean against the wall near the controls until Sazh and Lightning finally showed up.

When the two did arrive, they were a little shocked at the fact that Spider-Man had managed to take out this entire group of PSICOM soldiers all on his own, and Lightning was even more impressed by the fact that he had managed to defeat their leader, which she identified as a Marauder, but she then reminded herself of the fact that she had seen what Spidey was capable of first-hand, and her surprise instantly subsided. "Damn…you're good," Sazh complimented.

"Yeah well, they weren't that much better than the average crooks I normally chase down. Just a bit more heavily armed and with armor," Spider-Man joked.

Sazh could not help but crack a smile at this before he made his way to the controls. As he did though, he felt the need to ask Lightning once again about her reasons for being here, and he knew that there was not likely a chance she would be able to weasel out of it this time. "So, Soldier, what's your angle?" Lightning said nothing and looked away, while Spider-Man stared between the two, wondering if Sazh would be able to get Lightning to reveal anything. "What, is it classified military info," Sazh guessed as he started up the transport. "What's it matter? You quit, didn't you? You think either me or Spidey are gonna go out there and just tell everybody your secret?"

"The Pulse fal'Cie," Lightning finally stated, interrupting Sazh before he could get much farther. After not hearing anything for a minute, Lightning turned to see Sazh looking at her with a shocked expression, and then just walked over to finish starting up the transport as she added, "My 'angle.' I'm after the fal'Cie. Still happy you tagged along?"

Sazh could feel the ship start getting underway as Lightning walked away again, while Spider-Man just continued staring at the both of them, until he finally muttered, "Didn't have a choice."

Unfortunately for Sazh, Spider-Man overheard him and then quietly asked, "Does this have anything to do with Dajh?"

"How did you…" Sazh started to ask.

"It's not that hard to figure out. I've seen several different fathers do crazy things for their kids," Spider-Man replied before the question could be fully asked.

The three all fell silent after that, and just let the ship fly on to their destination. That silence came to an abrupt end when the sky suddenly became lit up with the light of a flare from a short, yet still rather fair distance away from them, and Spider-Man felt that he had a pretty good idea who it was that had sent it up. Lightning seemed to be following a similar train of thought, because she immediately walked over to him and asked, "You think that's the idiot and his crew?"

"Maybe, but there's really only one way to find out," Spider-Man replied. When he saw Lightning throw him a small look for what he was suggesting, he immediately reassured her, "Relax, I'll check it out, make sure they haven't gotten themselves killed yet, and meet you at the Vestige."

Lightning had barely even finished nodding in acceptance of that before Spider-Man had leapt off the transport and began swinging away with a loud, excited cheer, leaving her to shake her head a little at his rather childish glee for being able to swing around like that. Once Spider-Man was out of sight, she turned to see Sazh staring at her and where Spidey had just been a little in confusion, drawing a confused look from her that demanded an explanation. Sazh immediately granted said request and asked, "So what's the deal with you and Red-and-Blue? Is he your boyfriend or something?"

"No, he's not," Lightning immediately snapped as she spun around to face away from him, having felt her face start to heat up a little the minute Sazh had asked that question. She did not need to see the man's face to know he was giving her a knowing look that obviously said he did not buy it, but she did not feel that she needed to justify herself to the old man, so she just kept her eyes forward as she waited to see where the Vestige would eventually appear.

* * *

For such a friendly and usually optimistic guy, Snow was capable of getting annoyed and even angry sometimes, and right now was definitely one of those times. He had come down to Hanging Edge to try and save Serah with NORA right behind him like the good pals they were, but then PSICOM had to go and make things difficult by killing innocent civilians right before them, and they could not just let that slide. NORA could not consider themselves heroes if they just looked the other way just to satisfy their own interests after all, and the next thing any of them knew, they were practically leading the entire rebel front. Snow was not complaining or anything, but it was clear that they would not be able to fight off the soldiers, so the only option now was to clear a path through these blustering, armored bullies so that these good people could get home safely. Such a goal may have been easier said than done, but that kind of thing had never stopped Snow or any of his friends before, and it was certainly not going to stop them now, as evidenced by the squadron of PSICOM soldiers they had just mowed down like they were nothing. It was starting to look like Lebreau was right when she said that there was nothing to dread when it came to PSICOM, but despite his confidence, Snow knew that they were not out of the woods yet.

The only downside was that not everyone on their team was as resilient in the area of stamina. "No more," Maqui moaned as he collapsed when they finally stopped to analyze the next battlefield before them.

As much as she hated to admit it, Lebreau had to agree with her younger comrade. "There are soldiers everywhere," the lone female member of NORA commented as she hefted her gun onto her shoulder.

Gadot knew they were right, but he also knew that they were still in this so long as they were able to stand up, and that was why he was able to look to their fearless leader to see what he wanted to do. "Yo, Boss. What's the plan," Gadot asked Snow.

"Charge in, guns blazing," Snow instantly replied to his best friend.

"Hey! That's not a plan," Maqui protested.

"Real heroes don't need plans," Lebreau smirked along with Gadot and Snow, with Maqui eventually doing the same soon after.

What none of them expected though, was for someone else to voice some disagreement with their idea. "Ah, the famous last words of the cocky, overconfident, arrogant, stupidly naïve, and clueless rookies," said someone half-jokingly commented, drawing angry looks from the entirety of NORA as they looked around for the person in question until he suddenly landed before them in a crouch.

When he saw who it was that had decided to crash their party, Snow could not help but grin a little as he greeted him. "Hey, Spider-Man! Glad to see you decided to finally join the party," the large man said.

"Well what can I say? I'm not too big on looking the other way when people need help, and boy do you guys need it, big time," Spidey replied as he stood up straight before turning his attention to the others. "Okay, I know Snow here, but I don't think I've been properly introduced to the rest of you. I'm Spider-Man. You can call me Spidey; you can call me Web-Head; just don't call me late for dinner."

Even though he was still a little offended by Spidey's earlier comment, Maqui could not help but smile a little at the joke. "Nice to meet you, Mister Spider-Man. I'm Maqui."

"Hey now! I'm pretty sure that 'Mister Spider-Man' was not one of the options of what you could call me. It's just Spider-Man or Spidey. Mister Spider-Man was my father," Spidey immediately quipped in reply.

This time, all of Snow's pals were smiling in response to the joke, and Lebreau and Gadot then took it upon themselves to introduce themselves to the web-head before the latter decided to get back to the matter that had gotten him annoyed with Spidey in the first place. "What did you mean when you said that we were using last words of idiots?"

"First off, I'm pretty sure that I did not actually say the word 'idiots', but that does typically fit everything I did mention," Spider-Man started off. "Second of all, if you really think that real heroes don't need plans, then you clearly just know of the Saturday morning cartoon varieties. If we're going to get through this, we've gotta be smart about it, and not just go in half-cocked thinking we're invincible, because that kind of attitude won't just be liable to get you killed, it _will_ get you killed. Trust me, as someone who's barely gotten out of a situation by the skin of his teeth because he did the same thing, I know what I'm talking about."

"But you did get out of them, so we'll be fine too," Lebreau pointed out.

"Yeah, because of two reasons. One being that I was incredibly lucky, and the other being the fact that I have super spider powers, which includes the ability to dodge bullets. Last I checked, none of you have that," Spider-Man pointed out. He then moved over to kneel down next to where Snow was and looked out at the area ahead before he asked, "Now, what've we got?"

"A horde of the dreaded PSICOM soldiers accompanied by a number of Pantherons," Snow explained as he analyzed the area ahead along with Spider-Man. "And a group of civilians who are either going to be deported to Pulse or killed right behind them. We need to punch a hole in the enemy's lines to get them out of here, and we need to do it fast, because most of them are unarmed, if not all of them, and the only defense they've got at the moment is our boy, Yuj."

Spidey let that information run through his mind for a minute before he asked his next question. "Where are the civilians?"

"Just behind that mountain of rumble over there, so there's no worries about them getting hit by a stray shot," Gadot replied, indicating said mountain as he did.

That put Spider-Man's worries in regards to civilian casualties at ease, and it also made it easier for him to analyze the area and come up with a plan of action. It did not take him long to do so, and once he did, he was quick to explain his plan to the others. "Alright, we're gonna need to hit these guys in a two-pronged strike, one group hits the enemy from behind while the others hit 'em up front. The guy who strikes from behind will be moving in first in order to get PSICOM's attention, throwing them off-balance and basically becoming a distraction so that they'll be open for attack by the frontal assault group."

"And then we charge in, guns blazing," Gadot asked.

"With gusto," Spidey confirmed.

"Alright, I'll admit, I like the sound of that plan," Gadot shrugged.

"But how're we going to get someone behind them," Maqui pointed out. As far as he could tell, there was no way any of them could do that without someone noticing them.

"Please Maqui, you just worry about when you and the others need to charge in. Leave getting behind and distracting the idiots in the stupid armor to the professional," Spidey instantly answered.

"You sure you can do it," Lebreau asked, voicing some concern for the web-head.

"Are you kidding," Spidey scoffed. "Getting over there is barely gonna take me more than a couple of web-swings at most, and besides that, I've practically made a career out of being the ultimate distraction."

The wall-crawler then stood up so that he could move into position, until Snow suddenly stopped him with a question of his own. The only difference was, it was not in regards to their current situation. "Did…did Lightning come in with you?"

"More like I came in with Lightning to be honest," Spider-Man replied. "We stuck together after we managed to escape the Purge Train, but we split up after we saw a signal flare go up in this direction. I figured it had to be you guys so I came over here as fast as my webs could take me after agreeing to meet her at the Vestige."

Snow nodded in thanks for that, now feeling a bit more at ease knowing his future sister-in-law was here too, and glad that Lebreau had the insight to send up that signal flare that Spider-Man had seen earlier. If she had not, then he likely would never have known what Spidey had just told him. Before Spider-Man could swing over to where he needed to be, Gadot felt that he had to ask one last question. "You sure you know what you're doing, Spidey?"

"Yeah," Spider-Man nodded. "I've been saving lives and taking down various different bad guys for ten years now. This kind of thing is just another day at the office for me."

With that said, Spider-Man leapt into the air and fired off a web-line to carry him off to where he needed to be for their plan to work, with the entirety of NORA watching after him in wonder for a minute. While it always made Spidey laugh a little at how some people were still left in awe by the things he did or said like NORA had just been, now was really not the time to be enjoying such things. Right now, he had a different kind of fun to indulge in, and it started the minute he got behind the PSICOM squad. The minute he did, Spider-Man fired off a quick web-line that instantly latched onto the rear-most soldier, and he instantly pulled himself forward, bringing himself into striking range faster than the soldier could react. The minute that said soldier had reached said range, Spider-Man slammed a hard fist into the soldier's head, and then rolled across the ground after he went down.

Hearing one of their comrades go down instantly drew the rest of the PSICOM soldiers' attention over to him, and it was only a matter of seconds before they had raised their guns to open fire on the web-head. They did not know that a second was all that Spidey needed unleash his next attack, and by the time they had realized this, Spider-Man had already pulled a number of their guns out of their grasps, and was making quick work of knocking out a number of them. Soon after, the soldiers were attempting to engage him in close-combat, while the ones who still had their weapons were trying to shoot him, and the Pantherons were pouncing with vicious roars of battle. All of it did really little good, as Spider-Man was able to effortlessly dodge all of the bullets and most of the attacks with ease before retaliating with some quick jabs and kicks that instantly knocked many of them out of the fight, but even Spidey knew he would not be able to keep this up forever.

Luckily, he did not have to, because after almost half of PSICOM's guys were down, NORA made their move, and came in with guns blazing just as they said they would. In Snow's case though, that meant that he came in, fists swinging, since he was not armed like the rest of his friends, but given that he was able to knock out many of the soldiers and a couple of Pantherons with a single punch, Spider-Man was not complaining that much, and he had even fewer complaints when Snow suddenly appeared next to him so that they were fighting back-to-back. A few gunshots, punches, and webs later, the PSICOM squad was completely out of the fight while Spider-Man and NORA stood victorious, much to everyone's relief. Seeing the kind of damage they did just now made Gadot smile a little before he turned to Snow and said, "I'll admit, that definitely worked out a lot better than our usual plan probably would've. Careful Snow, otherwise I think Spidey here might end up taking your place as the boss."

"Hey if we get action and results like this all the time, you won't hear me complaining," Snow joked, and he then exchanged a quick fist-bump with Spider-Man. "Thanks for the assist, Spidey. Now how about we get these people on the road to home?"

"You don't even have to ask," Spider-Man nodded, and he immediately swung up into the air again to make sure the rest of the way was clear. After confirming it was, he signaled for the others to quickly move up, and they all immediately raced over to the group of people that were gathered together with Snow's blue haired friend, Yuj, while Maqui carried the guns that were not rendered useless in their previous fights.

Looking around at the group, Spidey could see a number of people who were still wearing the white and blue robes that PSICOM had made Lightning, Sazh, and everyone else on the Purge Train wear while many of the others seemed to have ditched them in favor of their normal clothes sometime ago, but one thing that stood out to Spidey was that this group seemed to consist of quite a few scared kids as well. Seeing this did not sit well with the web-head at all, and he immediately made himself a silent promise to bring PSICOM down sometime in the near future after this was over, because no one deserved to say they were protecting the peace if they were putting kids in danger like this. He was so caught up in his angered thoughts that he did not really notice the rest of NORA coming over until after Maqui had tripped and dropped the guns he had been carrying.

"Hey, careful with those," Snow admonished his friend, to which Maqui gave a sheepish laugh. The leader of NORA then turned to the group so that he could address them, when someone in the crowd turned just in time to see Spider-Man landing next to him.

"No way! It's that Spider-Man guy from the news," someone in the crowd of civilians exclaimed, earning murmurs of excitement from everyone. "Is he here to help save us," someone else asked. "Yeah, why else would he be here," another person said, and other similar statements were soon following after.

"I'm gonna be getting that a lot today, aren't I," Spider-Man playfully muttered.

"Most likely," Lebreau joked as she playfully elbowed him.

"Don't worry, no one's moving to Pulse today, and Spider-Man's here to help make sure of that," Snow announced, getting everyone's attention back onto him. "We'll clear you a path out of here, so be ready to…"

"Wait! Let me fight with you," a man in the group suddenly demanded.

"Yeah, you can't expect us to just sit here," someone who was still in the Purge robes added.

"Please, let us help," the first man said.

While Snow and Gadot both seemed to be considering the idea, thinking that it could likely help them, Spider-Man was not too fond of it at all, especially after everyone suddenly heard and saw an explosion go off that seemed to be rather close. After seeing this, Spider-Man instantly pulled Snow aside so he could have a private chat with him. "Look, Snow, I get that you could use a little extra manpower, but most of these people are civilians, and most of them are just kids! You can't let them fight trained soldiers and monsters," Spider-Man whispered to the larger blonde.

"Hey, I'm not too fond of the idea either, but you can't deny that it could help," Snow argued. "And besides, Maqui and Yuj are just kids too, and they're fighting with us."

"Yeah, because they're part of NORA, and they've actually got some experience fighting monsters. Look at these guys! How many of them do you think have ever even so much as _held_ a gun before, let alone used one," Spider-Man immediately countered.

After Snow did as Spidey had suggested, he had to admit that the web-head had a point; many of these people did not really strike him as someone who had fought a battle like this before, so to ask them to fight right now would not be a great idea, in his opinion. Besides that, he was not all that fond of dragging kids onto a battlefield to begin with, and he had made that clear when he had tried to convince Yuj and Maqui to stay behind until the two made a convincing case for him to bring them along. After another minute, Snow looked back to Spidey and said, "Alright then, none of the kids fight with us, and we'll only let people join us because they want to fight, not because it's what everyone else is doing. Is that fair?"

Spider-Man took a moment to look between the people demanding for NORA to let them fight alongside the team and the chaos around him before he finally said, "Alright, deal."

Snow nodded in reply and they both then returned to the rest of the group so that Snow could lay down the conditions for joining up with NORA in the fight. Many people did not seem to like said conditions, but after Spider-Man explained the reasoning behind them, their arguments died in their throats, and soon enough, NORA was getting the volunteers geared up and ready for action. For a while, Snow was actually feeling pretty good about the people who were going to be joining up with them, until he noticed a woman with silver hair approaching him after retrieving a gun of her own. The reason he had paused in doing so was because he had noticed that the woman was sitting close to one of the kids, indicating that she was more than likely the mother of said kid, and if there was one thing that Snow was less fond of than having kids fight this battle, it was asking the parent of one of these kids fight with them.

"You sure," Snow asked, hoping that she would say no so he could tell her to go back and stay with her child.

"Yeah," the woman replied with a determined nod. "Mom's are tough."

That answer may not have been the one Snow was hoping for, but he would have to deal with it. At the very least, he could still make sure that this brave woman had a strong chance of surviving, so he said, "Alright, but stay close to me or one of my friends. I want to make sure that you make it back to your kid."

The woman nodded in thanks for that, and then moved to join the rest of the volunteers, while Gadot held out the last gun to Snow. After taking the weapon, Snow walked over to the people who were left in the group, and held the weapon out as he said, "All right, last one. Somebody take it."

The boy who was sitting closest to Snow instantly scooted away shaking his head, clearly too scared to even think about taking the weapon, but a minute after he did, a kid who had been sitting next to him suddenly stood up and held her arms out to say that she would. That immediately brought about another intervention from Spider-Man. "Uh-uh, no way," the web-head instantly said as he gently pushed the kid back. "No child should ever have to kill, so somebody else take it."

Thankfully, someone else did, someone who was obviously an adult much to both Snow and Spider-Man's relief, but when the latter looked back at the kid who had stepped up to take the last gun, he could see that the kid was a bit disappointed and peeved about Spidey's intervention. Spidey knew that particular look was one that someone only held if they felt like they were not being allowed to help because they did not seem like they could handle it, and he could sympathize a little with the kid and immediately walked over to talk with her. "Hey, if you really think you're going to need a little bit of help keeping yourself and everyone else safe, I think I might have something that would be better suited for the task," Spidey told the kid. That earned him her full attention, and he then reached into his belt as he instructed, "Hold out your arm."

The girl did as instructed, and a minute later, Spider-Man had placed a small, red and black device onto her wrist that immediately latched onto after a wristband slid out and locked it into place. "Say hello to Spider-Man's amazing tech-web shooters, patent pending," Spidey informed her as she looked at the device in awe. "The trigger sitting in the palm of your hand is pressure sensitive, so that it won't go off if you make a fist or grab something. I've set it so that it'll fire either capsules of Impact Webbing or some web-bullets, but if there's ever a moment where you suddenly find yourself falling, hit the red button in the middle, and then fire. It'll allow you to make a web-parachute to slowly bring you down to a safe landing. Hit the top button here to fire a web-line in case you need to pull someone to safety. Just don't go trying to web-swing or anything like I do though, okay? After all, I'm a seasoned professional superhero."

The girl giggled at the last bit before she gave an excited nod of understanding to Spider-Man and rejoined the others, making Spider-Man glad he had decided to bring along a couple of spare web shooters as she did. With nothing else to do now, Spidey went over to Snow as the leader of NORA addressed everyone who was not going with him and his team. "All right, lay low and you'll be fine. We'll clear out the area," Snow said.

"You guys do that. I'll stick with this group and make sure they stay safe," Spidey said, indicating the people who would not be joining the fight.

"Alright, you heard Spidey. Stick with him, and he'll keep you safe," Snow said. "Now, let's get moving. We're going home together!"

"You heard the man! Come on! Everybody up! We're heading out," Spider-Man said, and with that, everyone started hustling to where they needed to be. All except for one boy who Spidey noticed was staring after the woman Snow had spoken to earlier. It did not take much for Spider-Man to put two and two together, and he was immediately next to the boy with a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry, kid. You'll see her again soon. I promise."

The boy stared at Spider-Man for a minute before he finally gave a hesitant nod and stood up as well to join the rest of the group in their departure, while Spider-Man threw one last look in the direction that Snow's team had just left in, silently begging Snow to not make him a liar before he swung into the air ahead of the group in order to make sure he would be able to keep them safe from whatever lay ahead of them.

* * *

It was not much later that Spider-Man started to truly realize that he got the easier job when he split up from Snow's group. He was not complaining about that though; just the opposite in fact, because if things were more difficult, or if he got into the middle of a fight right now, he would have to be extra careful to make sure that no one in the group with him got hurt. As an added bonus to his good fortune, his Spider-Sense did its job as always, warning him of any danger that the group would have run into before said danger struck, so they had managed to steer clear of the more dangerous paths very easily. That did not mean that they avoided trouble all of the time, because every now and again there were a small number of PSICOM troops patrolling the area ahead of them, but they were easily taken care of with a few quick, stealthy moves on Spider-Man's part.

It was not until they happened upon a rather large monster that Spider-Man had to forgo the stealth and get into a straight up fight, and while it was just one monster, the massive size and vicious appearance it possessed more than made up for the fact that it was on its own. If he were to make a comparison of its size, Spidey would say that it was likely somewhere in the same area as that of his old enemy, the Rhino, and it moved around on all fours, with sharp claws on both feet. Another thing to note was that it seemed to have a set of tendrils on its back that waved in the non-existent wind like some kind of mane, and all six of its glowing red eyes were glaring right at Spider-Man. Just looking at this thing was enough reason for Spider-Man to wave everyone back while he stepped up to take care of the monster on his own, and that was before Yuj had shouted out that it was known as a Beta Behemoth.

Spider-Man really could not care all that much what the monster was called, because to him, it just looked like an uglier, dumber version of Rhino, and the Behemoth quickly proved this point when it charged in and try to take a swing at him with its massive claws. The swing missed its target completely when Spider-Man easily leapt over it and around onto its back where he grabbed the tendrils and pulled back on them, much to the beast's irritation. Spidey was soon trying to hang on for dear life as the beast try to shake him off by any means necessary, but that was exactly what the web-head was hoping for, especially since the Behemoth was often trying to shake him by ramming into the side of the walls as hard as it could. The next time it was about to ram into a wall was the moment when Spider-Man finally leapt off its back, and without wasting any time at all, Spider-Man fired out a pair of web-lines on either side of the beast, and catapulted himself into it, feet first, so when the Behemoth did hit the wall, it was with much greater force than it could normally take.

After flipping away from the Behemoth and landing on his feet again, Spidey was sure that it was down for the count, so naturally he was a bit shocked to see that it was still moving when the smoke cleared. Thankfully, it was moving in a bit of a daze, indicating that Spider-Man had managed to deal some serious damage to it, but that also likely meant that it was much more angry than before. That would normally be really bad for someone, since injured and angry beasts are often the most dangerous ones, but for Spider-Man, this just made it easier to fight the Behemoth, since it was now going to be more predictable in how it fought him. Before Spider-Man could take action though, a vast amount of webbing suddenly exploded over one side of the Behemoth, much to the surprise of both superhero and monster, the latter of which had been rendered immobile due to how much webbing was now covering it. Turning to his right, Spider-Man could not help but grin a little under his mask at seeing the girl he had given his spare web shooter too cheering at her success at using said web shooter to help, and he then decided to not let that help go to waste by finishing the beast for good.

What followed after was the most one-sided fight Spider-Man had ever had with a monster the size of the Behemoth, because with one of its side rendered useless by the webbing, it could barely do anything to defend itself from Spider-Man's renewed attack, and it was soon down for the count, thanks to both that and some well-placed shots from Yuj. After taking a moment to catch his breath, Spider-Man exchanged a nod with Yuj before waving for everyone to move up. While the group was moving though, Spider-Man took a minute to stop the girl who had helped and said, "Nice shot kid. Looks like I owe you one."

The girl just giggled in thanks before running off to catch up with the rest of the group, until she, Spider-Man, and the boy the web-head had spoken to earlier all stopped in their tracks at the sound of a nearby explosion, accompanied by several screams. Turning to the source, all three of them could not help but freeze in horror at seeing that a recently downed ship had destroyed the bridge that Snow's group was currently standing on, and several people were now starting to fall to their deaths, but Spider-Man did not stay frozen in place for very long. After he had managed to shake off his shock, he looked to the other two and told them to stay there before swinging off to try and save as many people as he could. He knew that he would not be able to save all of them, but that did not mean he was not going to try and save as many as possible, and he was soon spinning out a large web that would prevent anyone from falling to their deaths anytime soon, and give them a way to reach the nearby solid ground.

Not everyone was lucky enough to land on Spider-Man's massive web, but a good number of them did, and those people were the ones who were sending out cheers of gratitude for the web-head once they had realized what had happened, but Spider-Man was not going to hear any of it until he was sure that all of them had gotten to safety, knowing that his web would not hold forever, even without being in a warzone like they currently were. It was right when he was mid-way through directing everyone to the safe area off of his web that another explosion suddenly erupted, bringing Spider-Man's attention back to what was left of the bridge above him, and he immediately spotted Snow holding onto the bridge with one hand, while the other held onto a person in order to keep them from falling, and he was clearly struggling with both.

When Snow started to feel the person slip through his fingers, he was starting to worry that it was all for nothing, until he saw the web-head looking up at him, and immediately shouted, "SPIDER-MAN!"

Spidey did not need any more prompting than that, and he was immediately leaping into the air and moving as fast as he could to catch the person Snow was holding onto just as they had slipped through his fingers. Thankfully, they did not fall any farther than that, because Spider-Man was able to catch the person easily just as he was preparing to fire off a web-line so that he could swing both of them to safety. It was not until after he had caught the person that he realized two things: the first was that the person he caught was the young boy's mother, and the second thing he realized was that she was obviously very weak, meaning she was seriously injured. These two factors served as all the motivation Spidey needed to swing back over to where he had started out, where both of the two kids had been waiting and watching in fear the whole time.

"Mom," the boy shouted when Spider-Man landed next to them, racing up to her side while Spidey started to do what he could to try and save the woman.

"H…Hope," the woman muttered upon hearing her son, and a weak smile soon graced her face upon seeing him, while her hand struggled to reach up and caress his face.

"Hey, easy, easy," Spider-Man warned as he continued doing what he could. "Don't try to talk. I'm no doctor, but even I can tell that you're too hurt to be doing too much right now."

"Hope," the woman repeated, as though she were trying to convey a final message while she still could, a very bad sign in Spider-Man's opinion. "My brave…brave boy…"

"Mom, please," the now identified Hope begged as he held onto his mother's hand.

"Get home…safely…" Hope's mother told him. She then turned to Spider-Man and said, "Keep him safe."

Spider-Man was not a fool, and he knew exactly what this meant, so he did the only thing he could and nodded, "I'll do everything I can."

The mother smiled in thanks for that before she closed her eyes and her hand dropped from Hope's face to her side, drawing an agonized cry from the boy when he realized what had just happened. A minute later, the girl Spidey had loaned his spare web shooter to was wrapping her arms around him in a consoling hug, while Spider-Man gently laid the woman down on the ground, his mind already reeling with various thoughts on what he could have done to have prevented this from happening. The sad mood was quickly killed when some airships blasted overhead, bringing both Spider-Man and the young girl out of their stupor, and reminding them that they could not stay where they currently were. Hope on the other hand was still caught up in what had just happened, was otherwise numb to everything happening around him until the girl suddenly slapped him back to his senses.

"We have to move," she told Hope, but the boy did not seem to fully register her words.

Spider-Man then tried his hand by placing a hand on the boy's shoulder, getting his attention. "Hey, your name's Hope, right," Spidey started out. When Hope nodded in response, Spidey then continued, "I'm sorry I couldn't do more to save your mom, and believe me, I know what you're going through, but right now, we need to keep moving. Your mother asked me to keep you safe and she asked you to get home safely, so let's not let her down, okay?"

"Yeah…yeah, all right," Hope finally nodded in reply. He then looked back to his mother again and wrapped his arms around her as best as he could and whispered, "Goodbye Mom."

Spider-Man honestly felt like crying a little along with Hope, but he knew that he had to be strong for everyone right now, so he did his best to hold back any tears before gently pulling Hope up to his feet and following after the others. As they were leaving, he looked back one last time and silently prayed that Snow had somehow made it out of there in one piece.

* * *

After what had happened with the Behemoth and Hope's mother, Spider-Man's group were able to proceed through the rest of their journey at a much more relaxed pace with very few other encounters with PSICOM, if any at all. At one point during their travels, the group had to stop and take a few minutes to catch their breathes, and it was during this break that they actually met up with both Lebreau and Maqui, who had gotten separated from Snow and Gadot during the chaos of the fighting. Another notable thing that occurred during their break was that just about everyone who was still wearing Purge robes finally ditched them, and Spidey was finally able to get a good look at the two kids who had made the biggest impression on him in the group: Hope and the rather happy girl he loaned a spare web shooter too.

Hope's face actually seemed to resemble his mother's quite a bit now that Spidey could properly see it, and he also had his mother's silver hair along with blue-green eyes. The boy's outfit consisted of a short-sleeved orange and yellow jacket with a green neckerchief over a black shirt, black gloves, and green cargo pants and boots. He also wore a yellow wristband on his left wrist, while a black storage pack could be seen on his belt. The young girl on the other hand, who was probably just a head taller than Hope and had bright red hair in curled pigtails, was the one who Spidey could not help but stare at for a minute, mostly due to how odd her attire was. If he had to be honest, Spider-Man would say that the girl's outfit reminded him a little of the traditional clothes worn in certain African cultures, but that was mostly due to the fur pelt she was wearing around her waist, the various bracelets and beaded necklaces, and the beads attached to various parts of her clothing. Aside from that, her outfit consisted of the bright colors of pink, orange, and yellow, while her boots were a simple beige color. It was not the strangest outfit that Spider-Man had ever seen, be it here in this world or back home, but it was certainly one of the most unique.

Of course, the one thing that caught his attention more than anything else during this break, was the PSICOM announcement for every resistance fighter to surrender peacefully, mainly because of what came with said announcement. There, being lifted into Hanging Edge, was the Bodhum Vestige itself, in which was both the Pulse fal'Cie, and Serah. As he stared at the large structure that was being airlifted into Hanging Edge by various PSICOM ships, Spider-Man could not help but remember how the odd looking structure was one of the first things he had spotted when he arrived in this universe, and at the time, he thought it was really just a strange set of ruins. _'Just once, I'd like for that to be the case,'_ Spidey thought to himself during his recollection.

The break soon ended when Spider-Man noticed Hope and the girl starting to run on ahead of everyone, and he immediately raced forward to catch up with them before they got too far or into unnecessary trouble, with the others falling in behind him soon after. While they were moving, Spider-Man heard a loud crash and turned to see the transport he had Lightning and Sazh on crash into one of the various buildings before slowly falling out of the sky. _'You had better have already gotten off and over to the Vestige already, Lightning,'_ Spidey thought, only to end up distracted from his thoughts at the sound of two engines roaring overhead.

Turning to the source of said engines, nearly everyone breathed a small sigh of relief when they saw that it was just Snow and Gadot riding in on a pair of airbikes, and the three members of NORA were quick to race over and give their friends a hero's welcome. Spider-Man would have done the same, but found himself stopping in his tracks when he noticed something about the large leader of NORA. Despite the fact that Snow was smiling and joking around with his buddies, the smile did not quite reach his eyes, and it was also clear that he was putting up a front to keep his friends' spirits up, and probably his own as well. It was not just any front though; it was one that a person normally put up when they were trying to deal with a recent hardship of some kind, or when they were trying to deal with something that they were blaming themselves for. Peter was able to know all of this because he had worn that same expression himself many times over the years since he became Spider-Man. It seemed to fool Snow's friends though, along with everyone else, so Spidey felt he had no place to question Snow on it. At least not yet.

"That's the one," someone next to the web-head suddenly said, interrupting Peter's musings, and he immediately turned to see Hope standing beside him as he stared directly ahead at Snow, with the redhead on his other side.

"Didn't you have something to tell him," the girl asked Hope.

"Yeah," Hope nervously nodded. "But…I…"

Peter knew exactly what Hope was probably thinking, and he could see why the boy was nervous, so he decided he would try and help the kid out a little, but someone else beat him to the punch. "I'll go with you," the girl offered, surprising Hope a little.

Spidey could not help but smile at the girl's kindness and then leaned down to better address Hope as he said, "I think she means _we_ will go with you." When Hope turned to him, Peter smiled behind his mask and said, "There shouldn't be any problem if you've got your friends with you, right? Besides, I think Snow needs to hear whatever you need to say to him. It'll do you both a lot of good."

Hope looked like he was still a little unsure about it, and did not even move from his spot until the girl suddenly gave him a little push. Even then though, he only moved a few feet forward, making Spidey think that the kid was even more of a nervous wreck than he was before he got his powers. He was about to call out to Snow when the big guy suddenly started up his bike and took off into the air after exchanging a few final words with his friends, flying directly towards the Vestige. When he realized this, Spider-Man instantly raced over and shouted, "Hey! Hey, Snow! Wait a minute! How about thanking me for helping you guys out by giving me a lift and saving me some webbing, dude? Hey! And he's already gone. Great."

Hope and the redhead looked between Spider-Man and where Snow had just flown off to, wondering why the wall-crawler would have wanted to hitch a ride with Snow, until Spidey turned his attention back to the two and said, "Alright you two, listen up. I want you guys to stay here and stick with Gadot and those other guys. They'll get you both out of here safely, but only if you do what they say."

"But what about…" Hope started to ask.

"Look, I know you want to talk to Snow about what happened, but the place he's heading to is dangerous, especially for a couple of kids," Spider-Man interrupted. He saw how downtrodden Hope looked at hearing this, and immediately sighed before he added, "Don't worry; you'll get your chance to talk with him later on, but right now, I need you to stay here where it's safe, alright?"

Hope hesitated for a minute before he finally nodded in understanding, and Spider-Man then stood up to take his leave. "Wait," Hope suddenly said, causing Spider-Man to pause. "Why are…why are you going there?"

"Because a friend of mine is going there to save someone really important to them, and I promised them that I would do everything I could to help. Incidentally, it's also the same person that Snow's going to rescue, so I guess you could say I kinda promised both Snow and my friend," Spidey replied, and Hope seemed to accept that reasoning. Spider-Man then gave both Hope and the redhead a little mock salute before leaping into the air and swinging away, towards the Vestige, silently telling Lightning and Snow to hold on just a little longer, because he was on his way to help them and Serah now.

* * *

 ** _AN: And there you have it. Am I an ass for letting Hope's mom die like she did in cannon, yeah most likely, but if I did save her, Hope would lose one of his biggest reasons for wanting to get stronger. Sure, that kind of drove him into a vengeful fit and such, at least in regards to Snow, but aside from that, he also didn't want to feel weak again like he did then, ya know? Look on the bright side, at least Spider-Man helped Hope get a chance to say goodbye to his mother this time around, unlike in canon where the last time he spoke to her was before they had split up._**

 ** _Also, I know that a lot of people aren't really big fans of NORA because of their gun-ho attitudes, but at least their hearts are in the right places, so that has to count for something. Still, it did play a part in why Spidey showed up to help them out._** ** _Another thing I've heard a couple people complain about is that Snow just seemed to brush his worries off like it was no big deal, but if you ask me, that was likely all just an act so that others wouldn't have to worry about him or anything. I mean, Spider-Man does that kind of thing all the time, hiding his worries behind a smile and some bad jokes, so what makes you all so sure that Snow wasn't doing the same after he saw Nora die? This is something I really wanted to emphasize here, and will revisit later on, probably next chapter more than likely._**

 ** _Really, aside from that, I am well aware that very many things had changed that much, but really, what could I do for Lightning and Sazh's side of things? The fact that Spider-Man was there at all was all that really could change about that, and it did also present us with a few moments of humor and some more Spider-Man &Lightning moments as well._**

 ** _Lightning: Don't call them that._**

 ** _Spider-Man: Yeah, it's not like we had kissed or something. [notices Lightning throwing him a look] Not that...there would be anything wrong with that...I'm just saying that it didn't happen so it's emphasizing the point you were making...and...yeah..._**

 ** _AN: Oh-kay, moving on. For those of you who were paying attention, yeah, Spider-Man's carrying extra web shooters, because really, why wouldn't he after all the times that they've been busted in one way or another? And in addition to that, we've now seen another upgrade in addition to the one from last chapter, the Impact Webbing, and yes, the idea was inspired by Ben Reilly, who had once served as the Scarlet Spider in this story Spider-Man's history. We will be seeing a few more cool new improvements to Spidey's gadgets and gizmos later on, but some may not come for a while, so just a fair warning on that._**

 ** _Well, I think that covers it. Onto the Preview everyone!..._**

 ** _Upon entering the vast labyrinth that is the Vestige, Spider-Man finds himself teaming up with two unlikely partners as he makes his way through in an attempt to find Lightning, who is most likely still with Sazh. His little team then continues to grow right up until the point where the reason he came in is in sight, but is it too late for any of them to do anything? And just what will follow after they have reached their objective? Many dangers and mysteries await everyone, next time._**

 ** _Please read and review, and swing on back for next time, fellow true believers!_**


	5. Fal'Cie Face-Off

**_AN: Happy holidays everyone, and welcome to the next chapter of A Spider's Focus!_**

 ** _[audience applause]_**

 ** _Yeah, we're all excited for this, huh? But before we get into the action, let's answer some reviewers, shall we? And let's also welcome our new special guests, Sazh Katzroy, Hope Estheim, and Vanille!_**

 ** _[audience applause]_**

 ** _Vanille: Wait, why am I the only one who doesn't get introduced with her full name?_**

 ** _AN: Partly because we haven't gotten to the part where your full name is revealed for one._**

 ** _Hope: Either way, glad to be here. So, I guess you want to answer the review from "kcthewwechamp", right?_**

 ** _AN: Yes I do. First off, thanks for the compliments and praise dude. It always means a lot when I get such glowing praise. Second, yeah, I've seen the trailers for Spider-Man Homecoming, and you are right. All around AMAZING! Seriously, they should give a dozen awards out for those trailers alone! I was jumping off the walls in excitement for that movie before, but now, someone's gonna need to make some calls, because I'm gonna be breaking a few walls with my excitement!_**

 ** _Sazh: Alright, alright, we get it. Now about this review from "Xample"..._**

 ** _AN: Right, right. Anyways, after getting a more, in-depth answer to said reviewers meaning, here's what I have to say. I get what you mean when you say that Spidey's being a bit too open about his personal life, but at the same time, he isn't revealing every last detail about himself. He's still keeping major details as vague as possible, so he's still not revealing everything. Also, in the case of Lightning, he kinda had to reveal as much as he did when they first, otherwise, she probably wouldn't have been willing to help him. Plus, the woman isn't exactly to let things go easily. Everything after is mostly because of the fact that they're starting to connect a little more. Everything else, he's just keeping close to the chest, at least for as long as he can anyway. Hope that alleviates your worries on that front. Oh, and yeah, I agree with you on the fact that humor is an important aspect of Spidey's character, but there are other aspects that are also just as important, as we will see in this chapter._**

 ** _Vanille: Don't you also want to answer "Dragon Naruto"'s question?_**

 ** _AN: I would, but I think that he'll get the answer to that later on in this chapter. Namely in the preview._**

 ** _Now, I think we've covered every question and concern I wanted to address, so let's swing into the action that's about to unfold here!_**

 _ **I do not own anything from any Spider-Man or Final Fantasy franchises or any other franchise mentioned in this story.**_

* * *

 **Chapter 5: Fal'Cie Face-Off**

Getting to the Vestige was actually relatively easy for Spidey, even without Snow's help, and despite his initial beliefs, getting into the Vestige was also very easy. Honestly, from what he had heard about the place from Lightning, Serah, and Snow, Peter had thought getting into the Vestige would have been the ultimate chore, but finding a way in turned out to be very easy. In fact, it was almost too easy, really; a point that was further enforced by how he had literally found a way in right after he had arrived at the Vestige, and then just strolled on in. Spider-Man had been in several situations like this before, and every time, it turned out to be part of some elaborate dance that someone was stringing him along into performing. Of course, there was also the question as to whether or not he was the only one walking into this, and Peter was not sure if he wanted to know the answer to that. At the moment though, he had a different problem to deal with.

 _'I'm not lost! I'm just finding a lot of places that are not the one that I'm looking for,'_ Peter thought to himself. _'More to the point, men don't get lost. Men go exploring, and since I'm called, Spider-_ Man _, that means that, by default, I don't get lost.'_

This was a lie that so many people have told themselves time and time again, and many times, the truth of the matter was that they were indeed lost. Then again, what do you expect to happen when you venture into an unfamiliar territory that you know next to nothing about, for it to be an easy, straight and narrow path? The worst part was that the Vestige was like the ultimate labyrinth, filled with shifting floors and stairs, weird contraptions, and probably another dozen things that were both in their by default or sent in by PSICOM. Spider-Man was not looking forward to finding any of these things, but he liked the idea of Snow and Lightning facing any of that even less, so he just soldiered on, hoping against hope that he would find at least one of them around the next corner sooner or later. Spidey did eventually find someone, but it was not Snow or Lightning, and it was not in a way he was expecting.

You see, just as Spidey was about to enter the next area of the Vestige's lower areas, when the sounds of screaming followed by a crash drew his attention, and the web-head immediately changed course to head in the direction of said crash. When he arrived, Spidey immediately looked around and spotted an airbike, or what was left of it anyway, lying on the ground, and just a few feet away from it, getting back to their feet, were a certain pair of individuals that quickly made him go wide-eyed in shock at seeing them here. "Oh, you have got to be kidding me," the web-head muttered before he swung himself over to where the two kids were.

"What were we thinking," Hope muttered once he was on his feet after thanking his redheaded companion for giving him a hand up.

"Funny, that's just what I was going to ask you both," Spider-Man snapped as he landed next to the two, making them both jump a little in surprise at the sound of his voice when they turned to face him. "What in the name of the Great Web are you two doing here?! Seriously, I specifically remember telling you both to stay put with Gadot and the others, not to swipe an airbike and fly in here! Coming in here alone is a bad idea, but taking off on an airbike like that? You do realize how lucky you both are that you're not hurt or worse, right?"

"Sorry, Spider-Man, but I…" Hope started to say.

"Na-na-nah! I know! You want to talk to Snow, clear the air with him, and all that other stuff, right," Spidey interrupted. Hope hesitantly nodded in response, giving Spider-Man his cue to continue. "I get that, really, but there is a time and a place for that kind of thing. This right here is not either one of those things. More than that, it's no excuse for putting your life in danger, needlessly." The web-head then turned his attention to the redhead and added, "And just what exactly is your excuse for coming in here Miss…"

"Vanille," the redhead stated.

"…Excuse me? Did you just say that you're name's Vanilla or something," Spider-Man asked.

"No, it's Vanille, and yours," Vanille corrected before holding a hand out to him as if she expected him to shake it.

"Uh…Spider-Man. Didn't we already establish that," Spidey questioned as he accepted the handshake, albeit a little hesitantly.

"I know that. I was asking what your real name is," Vanille elaborated, and if it were not for her incredibly innocent tone, Spidey would have thought that she was just kidding around.

Shaking his head for a minute, he then said, "Uh, I can't tell you my real name."

"Why not?"

"Because it would mean that I'm revealing my secret identity to you."

"So why do you need to keep your identity a secret?"

The innocence of this girl was starting to amaze Peter into near speechlessness, but he was still able to say something, starting with a question for Hope. "Is…she for real, or is she just kidding with me?"

"I'm not entirely sure," Hope admitted with a shrug.

That was not the response Spidey was hoping for, but he rolled with it anyway and answered Vanille's question. "If I revealed my secret identity to everyone, then the people I care about would be put in danger, and considering my status at the moment, I'd rather not let that happen, get it?"

Vanille nodded enthusiastically in reply and then said, "Alright then, so now that we all know each other, and since we're here, let's look around!"

"Wait, what," Spider-Man asked, but before he could stop her, Vanille was already off and skipping away. "Hey, no! No, no, no! Come back here! This is _not_ some day at a playground; this is a very dangerous place!"

"Hey, Vanille! Wait up," Hope called out as he chased after the redhead along with Spidey. Neither of the two had to go very far, as Vanille had climbed up onto one of the nearby pedestals and started reaching around it for something that neither of the two could see at first.

Eventually, she found what she was looking for, and then jumped off the pedestal so that the two could see what she was after. In Vanille's hands, was what appeared to be a very odd-looking staff of some kind, which split off into a set of horns at the top, making it one of the strangest weapons that Spidey had ever seen in appearance alone, and from what he could tell, Hope was thinking the same thing. Vanille on the other hand did not seem to think it was strange at all, given how she happily gave it a few practices swings and twirls before she finally hefted it over her shoulder in a kind of battle stance before looking at the two boys. "Well," she asked when she finished her little test routine.

"That's…uh," was all Hope could say in response.

"Words cannot describe," Spider-Man finished for him. "Seriously, what even is that thing? Some kind of staff?"

"Mmm…Kind of," Vanille admitted as she started swinging it around again, almost as though she were showing off for the two. "It's actually more of a rod type of weapon, and it's called the Binding Rod."

"I see," Spider-Man nodded, glad for the explanation, but also curious about how such a seemingly innocent, happy girl like Vanille seemed to know so much about this type of weapon. Before he could comment on that though, a familiar tingling sensation alerted him to a crucial fact. "Heads up, you two! We're not alone."

Spidey's point was proven true just seconds later when a pair of Pantherons suddenly jumped down near them, startling the two kids even more than Spider-Man's warning initially had. Vanille did not stay shocked for very long though, and she immediately ran forward with her new weapon so that she could engage them, despite any protests that Spider-Man shouted out to her. The next thing any of them knew, Vanille had swung her rod at the beasts, and a number of wires suddenly ejected from the horns of the weapon, landing multiple strikes on the beasts all at once, and those strikes continued on as she swung the rod left and right with wires still extended. At one point, Vanille managed to ensnare one of the beasts in the wires, and Spider-Man saw that as an opening he could take advantage of.

"Vanille, toss that one up," Spider-Man shouted as he charged in.

The redhead just nodded to Spidey before she pulled back on the rod, and used the wires to send the Pantheron sky-high. It did not stay airborne for long though, as Spider-Man was quick to jump up into the air as well, and land a hard spin kick into the beast that sent it crashing back down into the ground. Even though the beast was now unconscious and likely to turn to dust in a minute, Spidey was not going to take any chances, and immediately tied it up with his webs before turning his attention to the second Pantheron. Just before he or Vanille could attack it though, a gold boomerang suddenly struck it, throwing it off-balance. Spider-Man put the question of where said weapon had come from aside long enough to fire a couple pellets of Impact Webbing at the Pantheron, ensnaring it completely, but when he did start to question it, he ended up looking towards where the boomerang had spun back to just in time to see Hope catch it in his hand.

"Where did…Have you had that thing the whole time," Spider-Man asked.

"Uh…maybe," Hope shrugged as he folded up his boomerang and slid into his storage pack.

Vanille just smiled in thanks for Hope's help before folding up her own weapon and storing it on the back of her pelt. Once she had done that, she quickly walked over to Spider-Man and held something out to him as she said, "I almost forgot that I needed to give this back to you. I don't think I'll really need it anymore, especially now that I have my own weapon."

Looking to the girl's hand, Spidey saw that she was handing him the spare web shooter that he had lent to her earlier and mentally smacked himself upon realizing just now that he had left it with her as well. "Thanks," Spidey nodded as he accepted the wrist device and slid it into his belt. "But look, I can't just leave you guys to go wandering around here like this is some kind of vacation hotspot, so here's what's going to happen: You're both going to stick with me, and once we've found Lightning, Snow, or both and helped them out, we're all going to get out of here, okay?"

Both kids nodded in response to this, and allowed Spider-Man to take the lead. As they started getting underway, Vanille leaned towards Spidey a bit and asked, "So who's Lightning?"

"She's that friend I mentioned earlier," Spider-Man instantly replied. "The one who was coming here to save someone important to her."

Vanille nodded in response to this, satisfied with the answer, but Hope had to ask one other question after hearing this. "Is…is Lightning your girlfriend?"

Spider-Man nearly tripped at this question, and was insanely grateful that his mask prevented the kids from seeing his face right now, because he was sure that he was blushing up a storm. Still, it did nothing to keep him from stuttering in response. "W-What? My-my girlfriend? No, th-that's just…I mean…No! W-Where would you even…w-why would you…L-let's just get moving!"

Vanille only giggled in response to this, before humming a happy little tune to herself while Hope let a ghost of a small smile cross his face as they followed after the flustered superhero. Spidey on the other hand simply muttered something about kids and getting a migraine as he made sure to keep his gaze forward, feeling for some reason that if he were to face either one of the two, they would somehow be able to see him blushing under his mask, though for what reason he was blushing, he could not really tell you.

* * *

Since he was now traveling through the Vestige with Hope and Vanille, Spidey had ceased swinging around the place like he had been before, because he did not feel comfortable swinging too far ahead of the two and being too far away from them in case they ran across any other monsters. It was not that he thought that the two could not take care of themselves or anything, but given how many monsters he had seen prowling around the place while he was swinging around the place on his own, he was not all that comfortable just leaving them on their own in case they got swarmed and backed into a corner at some point. That did not mean that he stopped web-swinging through the place completely. To be honest, he really just did his best to make sure he did not go too far ahead of the kids.

It was a good thing that he did, because those first Pantherons were not the last that they encountered in the Vestige, and it did not stop at just the creatures that Spidey had started to call ugly overgrown mutts. The whole place seemed to be crawling with a variety of monsters that seemed to just be waiting for some unsuspecting fool or someone who looked like they could be quite the tasty snack to come into their reach so that they could attack, and Peter was pretty sure that both Hope and Vanille looked very tasty to those things. Then again, he probably looked tasty to these things as well, especially in his Spider-Suit, but that just served as more reason for him to try and keep them safe.

The only problem with that objective was that Vanille's carefree attitude seemed to prevent her from recognizing some very obvious danger signs that would have warned a normal person away from an area, and as a result Spidey constantly had to pull her away from said areas, be it by hand, or with a web-line. Thankfully, Hope seemed to be a little more sensible than the redhead, but when they did find themselves unable to avoid a fight, he was also a little too hesitant to get in on any action for anyone's taste. Sure, the kid did do his best to help out, but it was obvious to Spidey that he was too nervous and afraid about their current location and what would likely happen to them to really focus that much on actually fighting. Spider-Man may have been able to handle everything on his own, but even he had his limits on what he could do in order to keep these kids safe. He was just thankful that he did not have to do all that much just yet for the moment.

With so many things working against them, one would think that the unlikely team of three would ever get anywhere with finding so much as a sign that Snow or Lightning were currently in the Vestige, but eventually, they did discover something that at least proved just that: a recently abandoned airbike, and it was one that they all recognized in an instant as the one Snow had flown in on. Just as easily as they discovered a way forward though, they found their path blocked once again when they came upon another dead end. The only difference this time though, was that said dead end was in the form of a sealed door on a level that was currently inaccessible to ordinary people. Spider-Man could easily get them all up there though, but Hope suddenly decided to bring up something that had been bothering him right when the web-head was going to say something.

"Aren't either of you scared," the silver-haired boy asked.

"Not so much," Vanille shrugged.

Spider-Man's answer on the other hand was a different story though. "Honestly? Yeah, I'm scared thwip-less, and that's actually a good thing."

"Huh? Why's that," Hope asked, and Vanille also seemed to be curious as well if the look on her face was any indication.

"Well, in the words of a friend of mine, it's better to be at least nervous about a situation, because otherwise, you're just cocky and overconfident, and you tend to make more mistakes that way. To be honest though, it's not really me that I'm scared for," Spider-Man revealed. "Every time I put on this mask, I take on the responsibility of making sure that everyone is safe, and with that comes the knowledge that if I mess up, even for just a second, someone could end up getting hurt or worse. That's a lot of pressure for the average person to take on, and I've been doing this whole thing since I was somewhere around the same age as you guys seem to be, but none of that matters to me. No matter what the price, if it means that I've saved so much as one person, then I'll willingly pay it. So you see, I'm not scared for myself; I'm scared for everyone else."

Spider-Man's answer had ended up leaving the two kids awestruck. They had not thought of it that way, and after hearing all of this, they had found their respect for the web-swinger rising even higher than it was before. Still, that did not seem to help calm Hope down by very much. "Still, if they catch us here, they'll Purge us, and then send us off to Pulse!"

"So? What's your problem with that," Vanille asked, her voice carrying a slight edge to it that one would normally have when they were feeling irritated or insulted for some reason.

"What's my-? Pulse is hell on earth," Hope snapped, angrily, startling Vanille with his outburst.

What neither of the two expected was that Spider-Man would actually start chuckling a little bit, and they immediately turned to face him as a result. "I'm sorry, it's just…the more I hear people say that, the more I actually want to go to Pulse and see for myself," Spidey explained. "See, I've been to places that actually are hell on earth, or might as well be actual hell, so I'm kinda curious as to how well Pulse would stack up."

"…You're crazy," was the only thing that Hope could think of to say in response to that.

"Uh, dude, I swing around on webs in a skintight, red and blue suit, saving lives, and catching bad guys for free. I think that right there should be a glaring sign of how great my sanity is," Peter pointed out.

"What have you done that would lead you to go to places like that though," Vanille asked.

"It's a long story. Well, several long stories actually, but the short and simple version is that I've lived a very, _very_ strange life," Spider-Man shrugged.

Neither Hope or Vanille could think of anything to say in response to that, but then again, what could anyone say in reply to that? One minute, the man in front of them was this brave, selfless individual who seemed to possess incredible wisdom, and the next minute, he goes and says something that makes them question his sanity, while admitting that he's likely a bit crazy anyways. That alone would leave anyone speechless, and probably thinking that they should get away from him as fast as possible so that they could call an insane asylum. Thankfully, they were both saved the trouble of saying anything when they all heard a familiar voice booming somewhere above them.

"SERAH! CAN YOU HEAR ME? WHERE ARE YOU," Snow's voice shouted, startling all three members of the group.

"Was that…" Hope started to ask as he looked around above them along with the others.

"The guy I'm starting to think really is the biggest idiot anyone's ever met? Yeah, certainly sounds like it," Spider-Man answered. "Seriously, when you're looking for someone deep in a place like this, where you could be attacked by who-knows-what at any time, you don't just go shouting out at the top of your lungs like that unless you actually _want_ to get ambushed and attacked by every last thing in the place! What is he thinking?"

Spidey could just hear Lightning's voice saying that the answer was that Snow never thinks in his head, and that point was only reinforced when a few seconds later, the big man's voice rang out again. "Hang on, baby! Your hero's on the way!"

A minute later, the certain points in the room suddenly lit up and begin shifting around, opening up more paths for the three so that they could continue on, much to Vanille and Spidey's relief, but Hope was not really paying much notice of this. He was still hung up on something else. "He _is_ here. Calling himself a hero," the young boy muttered.

Since she was the closest to him, Vanille easily heard what Hope said, and while she was a bit worried about the kid, she still knew that he needed to speak with Snow. That was why, she was able to put a smile on her face when she turned to Hope and said, "He's coming our way."

Hope knew that, but it had not registered until Vanille had said something, and he was now suddenly feeling nervous. "What should I do," Hope asked.

He may not have been asking anyone specifically, but Vanille still answered, all the same, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Tell him what you need to."

Hope would have agreed with that, but there was one small problem with that in his mind. "But nothing I say will change what happened," Hope pointed out.

"That doesn't mean you should just keep quiet. Sometimes, it's better to get everything off your chest and say something; otherwise, it's just going to eat you up on the inside until it starts to turn you into something terrible," Spider-Man informed Hope, somberly. He knew quite well just what keeping feelings like Hope's bottled up can do to a person, having seen it far more times than he cared to have seen it, both in himself, and in others, and he did not want to see the kid end up like those people.

Hope let Spider-Man's words sink in a bit before he then asked, "So…should we just wait around here?"

"That might be a bad idea. We stay here, we'll be leaving ourselves open to attack," Spider-Man disputed.

"Well…we could just run away," Vanille offered.

"Hahaha, yeah, not happening," Spider-Man retorted. "What we're going to do is make our way towards Snow. We'll have cleared out a path in case we end up going along the same way that he planned to go, and at the same time, we'll be able to meet up with him sooner without putting him at more risk than necessary."

That plan seemed to work for the two kids, but if it did not, Peter was not going to wait around to hear any objections, so he immediately took point and started leading the way in the direction of where he believed that they would meet Snow. The journey was not going to be easy of course, the monsters proved that easily enough, but the greatest obstacle that they ended up facing was the matter of not getting all turned around. Even with the place altering itself so that a new way forward was opened up, it did not change the fact that the Vestige was still a complete maze to navigate. Oddly enough though, Spidey found it a bit easier to navigate from down on the ground with Hope and Vanille than it was when he was swinging around on his own. Maybe it was because he was sticking closer to the set paths now as opposed to trying to find his way around from the air while paying little attention to the actual paths, or maybe it was the fact that he had help now. Whatever the reason was, Peter did not really know or care to be honest, because it was making things easier. Of course, there was one other thing that helped in getting around, but it was one that the web-head had not entirely expected.

Despite how random her detours seemed to be, Vanille actually ended up leading them in what appeared to be the right direction more often than not. Just about every time she looked like she was about to go off on her own and Spider-Man jumped in to try and stop her, it turned out that she was actually about to head down a path that headed exactly where they needed to go most of the time, and if that was not the case, it served to point them in the right direction at the very least. If it were not for her carefree, oddly nonchalant attitude that Spider-Man could only compare to one particular _Harry Potter_ character, Spidey would have thought that Vanille knew exactly where she was going, almost as though she had been in the Vestige before. That thought was quickly dismissed though due to how crazy it sounded, but after realizing this, Spidey did start to reconsider it, seeing as usually the stuff he found to be crazy ended up being the truth. Of course, he started to reconsider that idea once again after where they ended up next.

The three had just been crossing through an intersection of pathways when they heard something that did not sound human at all. After spinning around and looking in all directions that they could, the three were greeted with the horrendous sight of the ugliest creatures any of them had ever seen coming through energy barriers like they were just walls of water, and right towards them. The creatures in question were humanoid in shape, but they were the farthest thing from human that one could get. Their thin, twisted bodies extended out into long arms with massive hands that had four claws on each hand, skinny legs that seemed to just barely support their bodies, and bizarre heads that had no eyes or mouths. In the center of the monsters' chests were large, red orbs that almost looked like an eye, and when they walked, their steps were slow, and trembling, like they were liable to fall over at any moment. When one combined the fact that these creatures were closing in on their position, along with the fact that the three were currently standing in a large, circular intersection that seemed like an arena, they could see why Spider-Man did not really like their current chances.

"What are they," Hope asked as he backed up until he was standing back-to-back with Spider-Man and Vanille.

"Cie'th! L'Cie who failed," Vanille answered. "This is what happens when l'Cie don't complete the Focus the fal'Cie gave them."

"Yikes. When Lightning told me that l'Cie who fail their focus turn into monsters, for some reason, this was _not_ quite what I had expected. To be honest, it's actually a lot worse than I had imagined," Spidey commented as he slowly started to drop into a fighting stance. He was not feeling too optimistic about his chances against these Cie'th, since he had to worry about fighting them and keeping the kids safe, but that did not mean he was going to let that stop him from at least trying to.

Thankfully, he ended up not having to worry about that, because a second later, Snow came charging in, slamming a Cie'th aside as he did, until he was right alongside the three. "Let's even these odds," the blonde shouted as he stood ready for action.

Spider-Man gave the big man a hidden smile of thanks and relief before he fully dropped into his battle stance and looked to his current teammates, a plan of action quickly forming in his head. "Vanille, backup Snow. Hope, you're with me," the web-head then ordered, and the two were quickly falling into their assigned places just in time for the battle to begin.

Since the Cie'th moved so slowly, the four had quite a distinct advantage over them in the sense that they could take them down quickly before the Cie'th could react in time. The downside was that what Cie'th lacked in speed, they made up for in numbers, strength, and reach. There was a reason as to why they had swarmed the group the way they did, and those long, gangly arms were certainly not just for show anymore than the large claws were. Hope and Vanille both made sure to keep their distance as much as possible, which served as very beneficial to both Snow and Spider-Man, because it allowed them to deliver some powerful blows without worrying about the two getting in the way too much. Sometimes, the creatures did slip past one of the two men leading this strike, but that did not prove to be a problem for them, because that was very rare, and the kids were able to handle a Cie'th or two relatively easily. Although, that applied more to Vanille than it did Hope, but both kids still managed all the same.

Of course, the kids being in the fight did have some other advantages as well. In Hope's case, the kid was able to use his boomerang to throw the Cie'th off balance for a bit, long enough to be either webbed down or knocked out by Spider-Man. Not that he really needed to all that often, seeing as Spider-Man was able to handle things fairly easily on his own, but it was definitely a huge help. Occasionally, the boy was even able to knock a Cie'th out of the fight completely before it had a chance to attack either him or his wall-crawling partner, which also proved to be a big help to both of them. Meanwhile, on Snow and Vanille's side of the fight, the redhead was able to use the wires that ejected from her Binding Rod to either throw the Cie'th off balance or tie it down long enough for Snow to finish it completely, which served to be very beneficial, because there were quite a few times during his charges when Snow would forget to watch his back and leave himself exposed to a Cie'th. Vanille was more than able to tie it up and keep it from striking the big man quickly enough, but it did start to get a bit tiring having to do it over and over again.

With these little combinations of fighters and attacks, the battle ended up being relatively short, with the area being completely cleared of Cie'th the minute it had ended. After seeing that was the case, Snow immediately turned to the two kids that had just fought with both him and Spider-Man. "How'd you two get in here," Snow asked before rounding on Spider-Man. "Please tell me you didn't bring them?"

"Dude, come on! Do you really think I'd willingly bring a couple of kids into a place like this," Spider-Man asked. "Besides, considering you were just letting everyone and everything in this place know you were here with your shouting earlier, you don't exactly have room to criticize."

Snow just shrugged at that before he said, "Still, you've gotta get them out of here."

"See, the thing is, I would, but I _might've_ lost track of where the exit to this place was," Spidey sheepishly admitted, while Vanille just added in an innocent look in hers and Hope's defense and the silver-haired boy just panted heavily while mildly glaring at Snow.

This time, Snow let out an exasperated sigh before he decided, "Okay, then, you find someplace to hide and keep them safe. Once I find Serah, we'll all leave together. We'll have everyone home in time for dinner."

Snow had to let out a quick laugh at his little joke at the end, but before he could get very far, he felt something lightly hit his back and was then pulled right back over to the three. Turning around, he instantly spotted one of Spider-Man's webs latched onto the back of his coat, and the web-head himself holding onto the web-line as he pulled him back. "Not so fast, Hero. Despite how amazing I am, you can't seriously expect me to just stay put and keep a couple of kids safe all my own, do you? I've had a hard enough time trying to keep this one from running headfirst into trouble," Spider-Man argued, jerking his thumb in Vanille's direction at the end.

"Hey," the redhead whined in response, but she did not seem to be paid much mind, because Spider-Man just continued on in his argument.

"Here's the plan: we _all_ stick together, we meet up with Lightning, find Serah, assuming that Lightning hasn't done so already, and _then_ we all get the thwip out of here, _together_. 'Kay?"

As much as he wanted to argue with this, Snow had to admit, Spidey did have a point. Even if he did just leave the two with the wall-crawler, Snow did not like the idea of leaving a couple of kids to fend for themselves if he could do something about it, so he nodded in agreement and then allowed Spider-Man to remove the webbing from his coat before they started off again with Hope and Vanille right behind them. Before they had gotten very far, Vanille looked to Snow and asked, "Who's Serah?"

"My wife. Future wife, that is," Snow proudly revealed. His face then fell a little when he added, "She's a Pulse l'Cie, and she's here somewhere, along with that fal'Cie. I've gotta find her and set her free."

"What's wrong with you," Hope shouted, bringing the entire group to a stop because of his outburst. "Why do you want to help a l'Cie? They're the enemy! How can you save a l'Cie, and not…And not…That's insane!"

When he heard Hope call l'Cie the enemy, Snow's face had immediately soured, but he was not planning on taking his problems out on some kid, and it was clear to him that Hope was dealing with some issues of his own, so he simply put on a small smile and said, "Probably, but I gotta do something, right?"

"Like the old saying goes, you never know until you try," Spider-Man added, voicing an agreement with Snow. He was well-versed in the whole deal with wanting to do just about anything to help even if there did not seem to be anything he could do. Then again, he was probably better off keeping his mouth shut in that regard, because it seemed that those words only upset Hope even more. Knowing that things will only get worse if Hope did not say anything now, Spidey walked over to the kid and said, "Hope, whatever you have to say to Snow, just say it. Otherwise, it will change you for the worst."

The young boy did not say anything for a minute, but he could feel Snow's eyes on him after Spider-Man had said that he had something to say to the large man, so after stealing his resolve, Hope looked Snow dead in the eye and asked, "You say that you have to do something even if it doesn't seem like you can do anything, right? Well, what if that gets people around you involved? What happens when your actions end up ruining someone's life? What if someone dies? What then? How do you pay for what you've done?"

Every word that Hope said seemed to drive a knife into Snow's resolve, and it showed in his posture, given the fact that he stumbled back a little until he finally could not take it anymore. "I can't, all right," Snow sadly replied, turning away from the three when he did so that they could not see his face. "There's nothing that can make something like that right again. When someone's dead, when someone's gone, words are useless."

"So people die and you just run away," Hope demanded.

"I know! It's all my fault, but I don't know how to fix it. Where do you start? What do you say? All I can do is keep fighting and surviving until I find the answers. To be honest though, I feel like I deserve the same fate," Snow revealed.

"…Because you do," Hope stated quietly, but not to the point where none of them could hear him, and Snow was instantly turning back to face him. "Nora Estheim," Hope revealed to Snow, glaring at him in full fury. "She was my mother, and she died because of you!"

"You…You're the one she…" Snow stuttered in shock. From where they were standing, Spider-Man and Vanille both could not help but feel that maybe this was brought on a little too soon, but there was nothing they could do to stop it now. Everything was out in the open, and now, all they could do was watch and see what happens.

Snow just let Hope continue glaring at him, until he finally dropped to his knees, bowed his head to the boy, and said, "I know sorry doesn't change anything, but I am sorry for what happened. I never wanted your mother to join that fight in the first place, but it was clear that she had wanted to help out somehow. If it were up to me, and the circumstances were different, I would've made her stay with you. I'm not asking for forgiveness; I'm well aware that I likely don't deserve it, but…I made a promise to your mother that I would get you home somehow. So please, just let me save Serah and fulfill that promise, and then, I'll accept whatever fate you think I deserve."

Hope had not expected that. Then again, he was not really sure what he had been expecting to happen. It was not like he planned on revealing all of this to Snow at once, and yet now he had, and the man who was more than twice his size was down on his knees begging him for a chance to fulfill the promise he had made to Hope's mother and save the person he loved. If he were to be honest, Hope had thought about putting an end to Snow, making him suffer the same fate as his mother, but after seeing this sight before him, much of that resolve was drained out of him. At this point, Hope did not have the slightest clue as to what he wanted to do now. It must have been clear to the other two, because Vanille was soon right next to him with a smile on her face, as she said, "Don't you think you should at least give him a chance? He does seem like he wants to make things right by you."

Hope looked between the redhead and Snow for a minute, until he finally let out a quiet sigh of defeat and said, "Alright. I'll let you fulfill your promise to my mother, and help you save Serah, but afterwards…"

It may not have been obvious to everyone, but Peter could tell that Hope had let his sentence trail off because the silver-haired boy was not sure what would happen at that point either. Still, it seemed to be more than enough for Snow, because once he heard that, he was back on his feet and thankfully smiling at Hope as he said, "Okay then. Let's get going."

What else could be said at this point? It was not like Spider-Man had any words of wisdom about this whole situation, and he highly doubted Vanille was any better off in that regard either, but that did not change the fact that the way they were at the moment was probably going to end up asking for trouble. Hope was teetering on the edge of uncertainty as to what to think in regards to Snow, Snow was clearly still blaming himself for what had happened on the bridge, Vanille seemed a little too carefree and nonchalant to really notice much was wrong, and Spider-Man was just worried about all of them. All of these things were glaring warning signs in Peter's book, but at the moment, they did not have the luxury of alternate options, so he just joined the other three in continuing on until they found Serah, hopefully before it was too late.

* * *

By some weird stroke of luck, Spider-Man's group did not encounter any other monsters after they had joined up with Snow. Peter was not sure if it was due to a twist of fate, or if Snow just had some insane luck that immediately started keeping them safe as soon as he joined them, but right now, he was not complaining. The fewer monsters they encountered, the sooner they got to Serah, Lightning, or both, and the sooner they got out of there. Somehow though, he had a very strong, nagging feeling that it was going to end up being a lot harder than that, or worse. It was a struggle to keep himself from thinking like that, because right now was not the time for thoughts like that. None of them would benefit from it.

Any thoughts he had were soon banished from his mind though when he spotted a familiar splash of pink, and as they got closer, he breathed a silent sigh of relief when he saw that it was not just his imagination. There was Lightning, kneeling down on the floor, with Sazh standing a short distance away from her, but his worries began spiking a little when he saw that Lightning was holding Serah in her arms, and even from their current distance the younger Farron did not look like she was doing too well. This was a fact that Snow seemed to have noticed as well, because once the elevator they were riding on was low enough, he jumped down and raced over to her, much to Lightning's scowling displeasure. Peter was soon close behind, but only after he had helped Hope and Vanille down from the elevator as well.

"Hey, where've you been," Sazh asked once Spidey and the kids had reached them.

"Sorry about that. I ran into a bit of trouble. Plus, I kinda have a bad habit of being incredibly late for several different things, even when I try to leave at the earliest possible moment for them," Spider-Man shrugged in jest.

Sazh almost cracked a small smile at the joke, but Hope and Vanille were more focused on Serah at the moment. Spidey figured they were trying to get a better understanding of why he, Snow, and Lightning were trying to save her, or maybe this was the first time that they had seen an actual l'Cie in person, but he did not really have time to figure it out at the moment, because he soon found himself dealing with a different fire. "Hands off. I'm taking her home," Lightning snapped, drawing everyone's attention to her, Snow, and her sister.

"Sis, I…" Snow started to say.

"I'm not your sister," Lightning snapped. "You couldn't protect her. It's your fault she…"

"Hey, hey, HEY! You do remember where we are, right? Very dangerous place crawling with monsters, PSICOM, and a fal'Cie? Really not the best place to be having this conversation, so can we table the argument of who's to blame and who isn't, and any other heated arguments you two want to have until after we've gotten out of here," Spider-Man interrupted.

That seemed to put an end to Lightning's rant, and the possible argument that was about to erupt between her and Snow, but no one ended up moving at all when someone else spoke up in a much softer, somewhat weak voice, "You can save us."

"Serah," Lightning asked, turning her attention to her sister along with everyone else, while Snow gripped Serah's hand as tightly as he could.

"You can save us," Serah repeated. "Protect us all. Save…Cocoon."

"Save Cocoon? Serah? That was your Focus," Lightning rapidly questioned while Spider-Man furrowed his brow in confusion.

"Wait, if Pulse is an enemy of Cocoon, then why would a Pulse l'Cie's Focus be to _save_ Cocoon," the web-head questioned, more to himself than the others. No one really noticed though, since all of their attention was focused on Serah.

"Anything, I'll do anything," Snow promised. "Leave it to me-you'll see. I'll protect Cocoon; I'll save everyone!"

Lightning scowled a little at Snow, knowing he was just saying all of this in an attempt to keep Serah from slipping away, not that she could blame him for that, but her features quickly softened once more when she turned back to her sister and gave a promise of her own. "Somehow, I'll make things right."

"Hey, you just relax, and leave saving the world to us," Spider-Man told Serah, adding in his own two cents.

"Thank you," Serah whispered with a smile, and then, something unexpected happened.

A minute after Serah had closed her eyes her whole body started glowing, and then lifted up into the air on its own, until her hand had slipped out of Snow's grasp. When she finally stopped at a certain height, everyone gasped as they saw her suddenly start turning into crystal, starting from her hands and moving along to the rest of her body, until she was completely encased, much to Lightning and Snow's horror, with a small bed of crystals forming underneath her. Before her body started coming back down to the ground again, a small, tear-shaped crystal dropped down into Snow's hand, and Spider-Man could have sworn that Snow was going to break down and cry at any minute, with Lightning not far behind him.

"Why is she turning to crystal," Vanille whispered, her shock as apparent in her voice as it was on her face.

"L'Cie who fulfill their Focus are transformed into crystal and gain eternal life," Hope replied, almost robotically.

"Just like the stories say," Sazh finished in a somber tone.

"Unbelievable," Spider-Man gasped.

No one said another word until Serah's crystallized form was floating just a little ways above the floor. At that point, Snow sadly said, "Serah…Sweet dreams."

That turned out to be wrong thing to say at the moment, especially since Lightning was right there. "Sweet dreams," Lightning snarled, pushing past Sazh and grabbing Snow by the front of his shirt. "She's not sleeping! Serah's…She's…"

After a minute, Lightning just could not take so much as looking at Snow, and ended up shoving him back before turning away, hoping that no one would see her sad expression. It was soon replaced with one of anger though when Snow spoke again. "She's alive," the big man insisted. "The legend! Remember the legend! L'Cie who fulfill their Focus turn to crystal and gain eternal life. It's the same with Serah. _Eternal Life_! She's not dead!" Sadly, no matter who Snow turned to in the group, he found nothing but sad, doubtful expressions on their faces that clearly said they thought he was grasping at a false hope. In the end, he had turned back to Lightning, hoping that she would support him, as he said, "Serah's my bride-to-be. I promised to be hers forever! I don't care how many years I have to wait…"

That was as far as Snow got, because it turned out that turning to Lightning for support in his argument was not the brightest idea at the moment, as evidenced by the fact that she ended up slugging him hard enough to knock him on his back. "It's over! Open your eyes and face reality," Lightning shouted, her sorrow barely kept out of her voice.

A second later, Lightning felt a hand on her shoulder, and suspecting that it was someone trying to keep her from attacking Snow, she immediately spun around to punch them as well, only to find her fist caught in Spider-Man's firm grip before she was suddenly pulled into him as he wrapped his arms around her. "I'm sorry, Lightning," Peter whispered. "I'm so sorry. I wish that there was something I could've done to help prevent this from happening."

Lightning wanted to tell Peter that it was not his fault. She wanted to push him away and punch him for trying to comfort her like she was some scared little girl. She wanted to do so many thing right at that moment, but for some reason, she could not do any of that. All she could do was burry her face in his chest as she allowed herself to fall into the comforting gesture that he was bestowing upon her. That did not mean she was going to let him off for doing this though, and she certainly had no intention of letting the tears that were threatening to fall from her eyes come forth, but right now, that was all that she could really do to keep from falling to pieces and losing her composure completely. Lightning had just lost her sister, the only family she had, and she was allowed even the smallest of moments to grieve, even if she did do it while in the arms of possibly the craziest man she had ever met, damn it. What ended up being even more saddening, was that said moment had ended up far too small because of forces outside of any of their control.

The moment had been interrupted when the room began to shake around them, explosions roaring loudly, and there was absolutely no gap in between explosions. They just kept coming and coming, at a rapid pace that drove Snow back to up his feet again, Hope ducked his head down in fear, and Lightning and Peter apart from each other, bracing themselves for action. "What now," Vanille asked.

"The army," Sazh shouted.

A minute later, a number of large cables suddenly came shooting into the room from various directions shaking the Vestige even more than it had been before, leading pathways that they had previously traveled to be destroyed in an instant, and knocking large portions of the walls and ceiling out of place. Seeing this happening prompted Snow and Lightning to jump over Serah in order to shield her from the debris, while Spider-Man covered Hope after shouting for Sazh to cover Vanille. Sazh may have been a little panicked about this sudden strike that was no doubt being carried out by PSICOM, but he was able to keep a calm enough head to prevent the kids from worrying, and that was something that Spider-Man was thankful for, because the last thing they needed was for Vanille or Hope to start freaking out any more than the latter already was.

That did not mean that they were completely calm though, but Vanille seemed a bit more confused than she was frightened when she asked, "What's happening?"

"Must be a Sanctum strike," Sazh stated. "Bring down the Vestige and the fal'Cie right with it."

"Aren't they taking it back to Pulse? That's what the Purge was, right," Vanille asked, now starting to panic a little more.

Sazh must have missed that, because he answered, "All they care about is getting everything from Pulse off Cocoon. Dead or alive, it's all the same."

"Not helping, Sazh," Spider-Man shouted over the explosions, when he suddenly felt Hope grab his arm.

"We can't stay here! They'll kill us," the boy shouted.

"Hey, stow that talk," Spidey shouted as he shrugged Hope's arm off and grabbed the boy by his shoulders. "We're going to make it out of this, understand? Say it with me: we're not going to die. We're all going to be okay."

"We…we're not going to die. We're all going to be okay," Hope repeated.

"Good. Now just keep telling yourself that, alright," Spider-Man coached.

Hope nodded in response and did as Spider-Man said. He did not calm down by much, but it did help a little as the Vestige continued to shake and shudder under the Sanctum's attack. It was not until after the explosions finally ceased completely that Hope calmed down completely, and he was not the only one, as everyone else seemed to relax just a bit upon realizing this. They all quickly tensed once more when they heard a nearby seal suddenly collapse, and then turned to see a door just a short ways up from where they were slowly open as if something was beckoning them to come forward. Given what had just happened, there was a likely chance that was exactly the case, and Spider-Man did not like the idea of going to meet the thing that was daring them to enter its realm.

His thoughts did not seem to be shared though, as Snow suddenly started to march forward to the recently opened door after whispering something to Serah. "Trench Coat, where you going," Sazh asked voicing the question for everyone.

"Date with the fal'Cie. Got some things to talk about," Snow evenly replied, but Spidey could easily pick up the anger that lay in the undercurrent of his tone, and he did not like it at all. He knew exactly what such anger could lead to, and he had no desire to see someone like Snow fall like that.

Once again, he seemed to be the only to notice such things though, because the others were a bit more hung up on the fact that Snow was going to meet with the fal'Cie at all. "What? You're gonna ask _it_ to help her? Are you out of your mind, kid," Sazh asked, incredulously. "That thing wants to chew us up and spit us out!"

"Well, what do you want me to do," Snow snapped, furiously.

That silenced Sazh completely, and he remained that way when Lightning started to march forward, past Snow, and towards the door as well, her sadness at losing Serah no longer present in her expression, replaced by a neutral scowl that promised pain to anyone who dared to stand in her way right then. After realizing that Lightning was likely thinking along the same lines as him, Snow had immediately fallen in step behind her. If the older man was thinking of saying anything, it ended up dying in his throat when Spider-Man next spoke. "He actually does have a point," the web-head said. "Right now, that fal'Cie may be Serah's only chance of being turned back to normal, and we don't exactly have any other options open to us at the moment. Not with the Sanctum right outside and waiting to shoot at anything that comes out, assuming we can find a way out of here any time soon."

"But that's just crazy! No fal'Cie has ever turned someone they've made a l'Cie back into a normal human being," Sazh disputed.

"Well you know what they say: there's a first time for everything," Spider-Man shrugged, and he then joined Snow and Lightning in their trek forward. Before he got too far, he turned back to Sazh and said, "Do me a favor and keep an eye on the kids so that I can better keep an eye on those other two. And before you ask, yes, I'll need you to do that even if you decide to follow us."

After watching the web-head march off, Sazh finally let out a sigh of defeat and followed after the first three as well, waving for Vanille and Hope to follow him. Hope did not really have much of a choice but to follow, both because he did not want to stay behind and because there was really no other direction for him to go in. Plus, there was also the fact that he had started clinging to Vanille the minute that Spider-Man had moved away from him, and since she was going along with them as well, he had no choice but to follow too. Even so, no one was kidding themselves into thinking that Snow really had a chance of convincing the fal'Cie to change Serah back any more than they believed that there was a chance that this was going to end well.

* * *

Since the door to the chamber in which the Pulse fal'Cie was located was not too far from them, the group ended up encountering no monsters at all, but many of them honestly would have preferred that, because the closer they got to the chamber, the more nervous they became, as a foreboding feeling overcame them all more and more with every step. The fact that the lights became dimmer the further they went in, until they reached a point where there was just barely enough light to see. From the corner of his eye, Spider-Man could see Hope and Vanille slowly move closer together as they went further in, and he had to mentally sigh at how they were being forced to bring a couple of scared kids into a place like this. Then again, he was not sure who he should feel more sorry for in this group, because at this point, they were all likely to end up on the chopping block with the way things were going. He put his worries aside though when he saw Snow and Lightning finally come to a stop in front of something, and he brought is attention to the thing in question, not entirely sure what it was until he heard Hope speak up.

"So this is…the fal'Cie," Hope gasped in barely more than a whisper.

"I've gotta be honest here; this is not what I was expecting a fal'Cie to look like," Spider-Man admitted, drawing a small look from all but Snow, who was too focused on said being to really care at the moment. "What? I was expecting it to look like some kind of giant, freaky creature or something, but this just looks like a weird machine."

Indeed, the fal'Cie did appear to be a large, cylindrical machine with long, protruding cables connecting the larger, dome-shaped base to the smaller dome above it. Glancing off to the side, one could also spot what looked like gears in the floor next to it, and on the smaller dome at the top, Spidey also spotted some strange writing that he could not begin to make heads or tails of. To be honest, Peter thought it looked similar to the large ARC Reactor that powered Stark Tower, but at the moment such opinions mattered very little, because everyone was more concerned with something else, especially in the case of Snow.

"Serah's a crystal now. You gave her a Focus, and she did it! You got what want! Now let her go," Snow shouted, but the fal'Cie just sat there without showing any reaction at all. After a minute or so of getting no response, Snow dropped to his knees and started begging. "Please, turn her back! I'll be your l'Cie instead!"

"Whoa! Hold up! Let's not get crazy now," Spider-Man cautioned the minute he heard that. "I don't think Serah would want you to throw your life away like that for her sake, and besides, you've got other responsibilities to worry about at the moment. Besides, how do you even know if this thing can understand what you're saying? Maybe we have to type a command in somewhere or something."

"It's not a computer or a machine, Spidey! It's a fal'Cie," Snow argued. "And if they couldn't understand us, then we wouldn't have been able to live with them for so long."

"Uh dude, from where I'm standing, it looks a lot like a machine to me, and how many people do you know of that have actually talked with a fal'Cie anyway," Spider-Man argued.

Snow's protests died in his throat when they all heard the sound of Lightning's gunblade unfolding into blade-mode, and they had all turned just in time to see Lightning starting to charge the fal'Cie with said weapon ready to strike. "You can go on discussing details about such things or begging all you want. In the end, this thing doesn't really give a damn what we want," Lightning shouted as she swung her gunblade at the fal'Cie, only to recoil back a little when the blade struck its metal casing. That did not stop her though, because Lightning was quick to take another swing, and another, and another, until her last swing made her stagger back a little, prompting Spidey to race to her side to prevent her from falling. Lightning shrugged him off though, and returned to glaring at the fal'Cie as she panted, "It's this thing's fault the Purge started, and it's people who are dying. Serah told us to save Cocoon. That means this thing needs to die!"

"Just hang on a minute, Lightning. What if Snow's right and this thing can change Serah back? Do you really want to risk losing the only chance we currently have of saving your sister," Spider-Man tried to reason.

"There _is_ no chance of saving Serah, don't you get it?! She's…she's…And it's all this thing's fault," Lightning roared angrily before she charged again, only to stumble back on the recoil of her strike sooner than the first time.

This time when he caught her, Spider-Man made sure to keep a firm hold on her while he spoke. "That only reinforces my point. Besides that, what makes you so sure that what Serah wants us to save Cocoon from is this thing? What if it's some greater threat that we don't know about yet and this fal'Cie has the information we need to identify it?"

"It's a Pulse fal'Cie, Spider-Man! It doesn't want to save Cocoon! It wants to destroy us all," Lightning shouted, shrugging him off once more.

"And didn't it also make Serah a l'Cie? If that's the case, then why was it that she turned to crystal after telling us to save Cocoon? Does that seem like a Focus that the fal'Cie would give her if it wanted the opposite," Spider-Man continued to argue.

Lightning did not have an immediate answer for that, but she still continued to insist, "It doesn't matter. This thing is a threat to Cocoon, or did you forget that the Purge only happened because of it? If for nothing else, even if it is a fal'Cie, it needs to pay for the destruction and horrors that it's caused."

Much like the other three, Snow could only stare in shock at Lightning. In all the time he had known her, he had never seen Lightning react like this, and he had also never heard of such a thing happening with her from any stories he had heard from Serah or anyone else that knew something about Lightning. More than that, he had also never seen or heard of someone standing up to Lightning in the way that Spider-Man currently was, especially while she was even a little upset, and yet, the web-head was doing just that. Sure, he had tried standing up to her just the previous day for her reaction to first learning about how Serah had become a l'Cie, but that was more due to the heat of the moment. Normally, he would not do such a thing, mostly because he knew how she would react if he did. Then again, after thinking about it for a minute, Snow did remember seeing Peter stand up to her quite fiercely on that exact same day, but the guy did not have much trouble seeing as they had both managed to actually get him angry, so he did not really think that time counted. Either way, it was clear in that moment that what happened to Serah was clearly affecting Lightning a great deal, and Spider-Man was doing everything he could to make sure she kept a level head.

It did not really matter one way or the other in the end, because a minute later, the room's dim lighting suddenly started to become much brighter, while a number of lights in the floor suddenly blazed to life beneath their feet. Following this, the base dome started to glow as well, while a number of gears started rotating, and a pair of large cylinders started rising up out of the floor on either side of the machine in the middle of the room. After a minute or so, the light that was being emitted from the dome grew to blinding levels, and everyone was looking away and attempting to shield their eyes in order to avoid being blinded while hearing something shift and move. When the light finally died down, they all stared in both awe and horror at what they saw.

The lower half of the dome had split open to reveal a misshapen form with a large connected to the wires, with a massive crystal in the center of its torso, and what looked like an arm with three claws on the end on its right side that was waving around loosely. The two cylinders that had emerged from the floor were now floating on either side of the figure like a pair of massive arms, with twisted prongs on the ends as fingers, and had the top and bottom halves of the cylinders were spinning in two different directions, much like the gears in the walls and on the floor around them. All-in-all, it looked much more like the beast that Peter had heard about from the others now.

"Okay, I take it back. It's not just a freaky machine. If anything, it's more like a freaky cyborg or something," Spidey quipped upon seeing this new transformation. No one paid his comment any mind, having become more focused on the fal'Cie, or more frightened of it, depending on who you were talking about. The web-head did not really mind that much, as he just dropped down into a crouch and shouted, "Hope, Vanille, get somewhere safe and take cover!"

Hope did not hesitate to do as Spider-Man had said, and immediately ran for the exit, but before he got too far, he slammed right into an energy barrier with the same symbol as Serah's l'Cie brand, and was knocked down onto his back. Thankfully, he was not too hurt, as Vanille confirmed once she had helped him up, but the fact was that they were all now trapped with the fal'Cie, and there only seemed to be one way that they would be getting out: by killing the fal'Cie. This was a matter that Lightning and Snow both accepted quite easily, and though he did not like it, Spider-Man knew it to be true as well. Sazh also recognized this, but he was still skeptical about taking such action.

"Come on, now. You really think you can kill a fal'Cie," the older man asked.

"Dude, I've beaten guys bigger and uglier than this thing plenty of times before, and most of those times I was on my own. This will be a breeze," Spider-Man responded, his voice brimming with confidence.

Snow and Sazh were a bit surprised by that, but Lightning just ignored them both, and said, "I'm doing this for Serah!"

Hearing that made Snow put aside any questions he had about Spider-Man as well, and prompted him to drop into a fighting stance on Lightning's left, ready to put some hurt on the thing that had turned the woman he loved into a l'Cie as well. He did not need to say anything about why he was doing this, because it was obvious to anyone that his reasons were the same as Lightning's. Seeing these three so willing and ready to fight, and hearing about why Lightning was doing this reminded Sazh why he was down there in the first place, and helped him to make his own decision on what to do as well. "I'm in, as long as you don't mind an amateur" Sazh announced, moving to stand on Spider-Man's right, placing the web-head and the rose-haired woman in the middle of the group. He then drew his guns and said, "I got these things. Might as well use 'em!"

"Thanks," Lightning nodded.

"Alright, let's get swinging," Spider-Man shouted, and he then shot out a web-line and swung himself forward, intending to kick the fal'Cie right in its torso. His attack did not get the chance to connect though, as one of the large arms suddenly slammed him aside and out of the air. The other arm was then started to come down on him, but was quickly blocked by Lightning.

"Thought your Spider-Sense warned you of attacks before they happened," Lightning commented to the web-head as she pushed back against the large appendage.

"Hey, I can't be expected to be able to dodge every attack that gets thrown at me," Spidey immediately defended before he pulled them both out of the way, having noticed that Lightning was starting to falter in her defense a bit.

The arm that Lightning was holding back then slammed into the floor where the two had previously been standing, and Sazh instantly opened fire on it while Snow charged in, landing a powerful punch into the arm. Seeing that the other two had that arm under control, Lightning and Spidey turned their attention to the other arm, and quickly made short work of it. With both arms now destroyed, the four then turned their full attention to the main body, bombarding it with slashes, gunshots, web-bullets, punches, and whatever other form of attack that they could throw at it. The whole time though, the fal'Cie did not do anything to defend itself, proving that the manipulators were the only defense that it had against them. One would think that meant they would be able to take down the fal'Cie without any problems, but that was proven wrong all too quickly.

Right when Snow was charging in to land another blow on the fal'Cie, he was suddenly pulled back by Spider-Man's webbing, saving him from being crushed by its regenerated left manipulator. Looking to the where the other arm would be allowed the group to see that it had also regenerated, and all four of the fighters were immediately cursing under their breathes as they charged in to destroy the massive arms a second time. Before Lightning or Snow got too close though, Spidey's Spider-Sense immediately started tingling at full blast, and he immediately shouted for the four to scatter. It was a good thing he had, otherwise, the entire group would have been wasted by the pair of large laser beams that were fired by the arms had fired off in an attempt to destroy them.

Once the blasts had ceased, Spider-Man looked to his allies and shouted, "Lightning, Sazh, lay down some covering fire! Snow, you and me are gonna try to get in close and take out the heart of this problem!"

The four immediately nodded in response, and in a matter of seconds, the former soldier had switched her gunblade into its gun-mode and opened fire on one of the manipulators while Sazh fired on the other one. While they were doing that, Spider-Man and Snow did their best to avoid any attacks that the arms tried to throw at them, and focused all of their attention on hitting the fal'Cie's main body as hard and fast as they could. Often times, Spidey would spare a blast of webbing, be it regular or Impact Webbing, to help stave off the attacks that the manipulators would try to throw at them, but for the most part, he did not have to worry too much, at least in regards to himself. Snow on the other hand, he did have to keep an eye on, since unlike him, the big guy did not have the proportionate agility of a spider or a sixth sense for danger like he did. Even so, Snow seemed to handle himself quite well in terms of watching his back while he attacked, and that did make Spider-Man's job of watching out for everyone easier.

Spider-Man's plan did not always work out entirely in their favor, as there were points where they accidentally left themselves exposed to some attack or another, but thankfully, some last minute interference managed to save their necks. The first came when Sazh accidentally left himself open after he managed to dodge a swipe from the manipulator, and thus left himself open for a blast from its laser cannon. The weapon ended up missing though when Vanille suddenly pulled it away from its target using her Binding Rod, which earned her a thankful salute from Sazh. Surprisingly, Lighting also ended up in a bind when she was forced to defend herself from an attack by the other manipulator using her gunblade's blade-mode, but thankfully, it was knocked aside just enough for her to push it back and retaliate after Hope had thrown his boomerang at it. Spider-Man was not really okay with the two kids jumping into such a serious fight like that, but given that they did help to save some of their necks, he was not going to complain too much.

Eventually, when both manipulators were destroyed, Lightning and Sazh had returned their attention to attacking the fal'Cie's main body with Snow and Spider-Man, and Hope and Vanille were not far behind them in doing the same. Under the force of six different attackers, the fal'Cie stood very little chance, and it was not long after they had all moved to act that it was soon on its last leg, something that both Spider-Man and Lightning managed to recognize. Once they had, they both shouted for everyone to throw everything they had at the fal'Cie, and the entire group did just that, with Spider-Man landing the final blow with a web-slingshot. With that last attack, the fal'Cie almost seemed to stagger a little, or at least as much as it could in its position, and the group thought for sure that they had won until the crystal on its chest suddenly started to grow incredibly bright, nearly blinding them had they not closed their eyes once again.

When they all opened their eyes again, they were shocked to see that they were no longer standing in the fal'Cie's chamber. Instead, they were floating in some massive black void, with the only light in the place being a large crystal in the distance. The whole place had left the group somewhat speechless for a time until Lightning managed to find her voice and asked, "Where are we?"

"What's going on," Snow asked, but both his question and Lightning's remained unanswered for the most part.

"Something tells me we're not in Kansas anymore," Spidey quipped in an attempt to ease his nerves.

His statement had earned him an odd look from the others as Hope stated, "We weren't in any place called Kansas to begin with, and what even is a Kansas?"

Spider-Man just looked at the kid for a minute before looking around to see how the others were looking at him before he sighed, "Never mind."

No one was able to further question Spidey any further on his odd comment, because a faint sound of bells ringing suddenly reached their ears, and they all immediately turned to look above them to see what had caused it. What they saw they first thought was the fal'Cie that they had been fighting, but when it suddenly began shifting and altering its appearance, they were shocked to see that it was something else entirely. When its transformation was completed, they were shocked to see a massive being with half of its face covered with even more rotating gears on his body than even the fal'Cie possessed, and a few long cables hanging down from the top of its head. The only other way to describe this being's appearance would be to say that it looked like some regal, nearly divine being, and this was something that the entire group could feel even at their current distance. Not that they were able to think of too much more given that the ringing bells had become much louder to the point where they could barely think of much else.

A second later, a number of energy tentacles were suddenly released from this being and bound each of the six where they were, and despite what little struggles they could put up, they were just not able to shake its hold on them at all. Seeing that the six were now held firmly in place, the massive being raised its hand up and released six beams of light that struck each of them in a different place on their bodies. While most of them just let out small grunts at being struck though, each feeling something in them change after the beams had hit, Spider-Man made no acknowledgment of the beam hitting him at all, and said beam seemed to actually break apart right when it was about to reach him. This development had left the massive being looking a bit surprised, but it did not deter him in what he was trying to do, and he immediately tried to carry out his task again. This had yielded the same results as the first, aside from the fact that the large, white spider-symbol on Spidey's chest actually seemed to glow brightly for a moment, shocking the being before the group when it did, almost as though he recognized something it had not before.

A minute later, the being lowered his hand and looked directly at Spider-Man, who was now glaring back at him from behind his mask with full courage and determination, and then seemed to speak into the young superhero's mind. **_"Guide them well in the trials that await them, Spider Totem of the Great Web."_**

That was not something Spider-Man was expecting to hear, but then again, he was not expecting to hear this thing talking to him in his head or otherwise. This was not the first time he had heard about the Great Web, as he had heard it mentioned by people like Madame Web plenty of times before in the past, and every time he did hear about it, it never meant anything good for what would come later on. The thing that had really left him surprised though, was that someone, or some _thing_ in this case actually knew about it at all, and recognized him as one of the people with a strong connection to it. The question of what that could mean had immediately started racing through his mind right along with the question of just what this thing had done to his friends, but he did not have much time to really contemplate on it for long, because a minute later, the being released a powerful pulse of energy from its body.

When the shockwave hit the group of six, they were all released from their bindings and thrown down into the black void below them, leaving Spider-Man to try and struggle to catch so much as even one of the others. It was not made any easier by the fact that he was also struggling to stay conscious at the moment, and as such, he was only able to stay awake long enough to just brush his fingertips up against Lightning's arm before he was finally forced to surrender to the darkness of unconsciousness. Just before he passed out though, he could have sworn he heard something exploding and then flash freeze, signaling that he was not going to wake up to anything peaceful when he finally did.

* * *

 ** _AN: Well, that happened. So things that changed this time around, in order, Spidey met up with and teamed up with Vanille and Hope, Spidey made Snow not initially run off and leave said pair on their own with just Spidey as their protection, and Hope confronted Snow about what had happened to his mother much sooner. I know some of you probably have some reservations about that, but when you think about, given the encouragement that Spider-Man gave him, it really shouldn't be too much of a surprise that Hope would be brave enough to confront Snow so soon this time around. And of course, that led to what Snow did next, which I believe would only be natural for him to react as such. He wants to keep his promise to Hope's mom, and at the same time, he doesn't want to abandon his own mission, so he's got to do something to convince Hope to hold off on however he wants to punish Snow until he has done those things._**

 ** _Next off, the fight with the fal'Cie, Anima. I know I never addressed it by name, but that's mostly due to the fact that as far as I could tell, no one in the group had ever actually identified it by name, so I figured I'd leave it nameless, beyond the fact that we all know what it was called. And yeah, I know that despite the title, the actual face-off with the fal'Cie was a bit short, but in my defense, it was the first boss fight of Final Fantasy XIII_ _, and really, the only offensive and defensive abilities that Anima had were those massive manipulators it had for arms._**

 ** _On another note, we also saw Spidey take a bit more action this time around, at least in terms of discussions and such, which also gave us a couple of SpideyxLight moments. Be honest, how many of you agree that the first time you saw the fal'Cie you thought it was some weird machine like Spider-Man did? In point of fact, there are times that I still can't help but think that about all of the fal'Cie in the world of FFXIII, so it was only natural that I would have Spider-Man voice such opinions._**

 ** _Finally, the topic that I'm sure you're all wondering about: "Why the heck does it seem like Spider-Man wasn't made a l'Cie?" Well, let me start off by confirming that Spider-Man has indeed avoided becoming a l'Cie, and will not ever become a l'Cie through the course of this story. The reason for that is...a secret!_**

 ** _Vanille: Aw come on! Tell us! Please?_**

 ** _AN: Nope. Not yet. That's not information that you will be receiving just yet. My reason? Here's a hint: Onto the Preview!..._**

 ** _Our heroes awaken in the crystallized Lake Bresha, and soon discover that they have all become l'Cie. All except for one: Spider-Man. Just why is it that the others have become l'Cie, while our favorite wall-crawler has not? As they journey onward to a currently unknown destination, this question is running the most rampant in the group's minds along with the question of just what their focus is, but only the former question is answered, and it comes from an old friend and ally of Spider-Man's. Secrets and truths will be revealed, along with a piece of news that will shake up the entirety of Spider-Man's world, next time._**

 ** _Get it now? Good. So with that said..._**

 ** _Please read and review, swing on back for next time, and Happy Holidays, fellow true believers!_**


	6. Curse of Revelations

**_AN: Well would you check this out? Looks like I was able to get in one more chapter before Christmas got here. Pretty cool, huh?_**

 ** _Spider-Man: Yeah, or maybe you're just that good._**

 ** _AN: True, true. That could very well be the case._**

 ** _Lightning: Don't boast about it. People could just take this to mean that you've got far too much free time and no life._**

 ** _AN: [gains aura of depression] Now that's just hurtful._**

 ** _Serah: Lightning! Now look what you did!_**

 ** _Lightning: [scoffs and looks away] What? I'm just stating a few facts. It's not like it's actually true._**

 ** _Sazh: I don't think that's helping._**

 ** _Spidey: Why are we even arguing about this? Come on! It's Christmas! Wait, do you even have Christmas on Cocoon, or Pulse?_**

 ** _AN: [perks up in an instant] That's a very good question. Actually, come to think of it, does anyone know if they would have Christmas on any of the worlds in the Final Fantasy series? Ah, ya know what? Not important. What happens in this chapter on the other hand is very important. So, why are you readers all sticking around and reading this? Get a move on, and consider this a final Christmas gift from me to you guys!_**

 _ **I do not own anything from any Spider-Man or Final Fantasy franchises or any other franchise mentioned in this story.**_

* * *

 **Chapter 6: Curse of Revelations**

Peter was not sure how long he was passed out after he and the others were blasted by whatever energy pulse that bizarre being released, but he did know that there was a good chance it was not just a few minutes. If anything, it was likely a few hours, and when he finally started to wake up, he had a headache that made him feel like the Hulk had been breakdancing on his skull while Deadpool was running his mouth a hundred miles a minute in his mind. At the moment though, he was just glad that it was just a headache and not his Spider-Sense blaring at full blast, because that would mean that he would have to fight some serious threat while making sure to keep his still unconscious companions safe, and that was really not something he wanted to deal with after all that had just happened. Since there did not seem to be any immediate threat for the moment though, Spidey was able to take a bit of time in rousing the others back to the realm of consciousness, starting with Lightning and Hope, who had ended up landing the closest to him. He had just finished getting the two up when Snow suddenly awoke with a start, shouting out Serah's name when he did, and waking up the other two when he did.

"Well that saves me a bit of time," Spider-Man quipped as everyone other than Hope stood up. He then turned serious and asked, "So aside from the obvious, is everyone okay?"

"I…I think so, Spidey," Snow nodded as he looked around in awe. "But…Is this…for real?"

Peter was not sure what Snow meant by that, but after pausing to look around, he got a pretty good idea. All around them was a massive, crystal landscape that seemed to have been created from the Vestige crashing into a large body of water, judging by how the walls and various spikes seemed so similar to waves or water after something had been dropped into it. Aside from the crystal-landscape, Peter could also see various structures that were likely part of buildings or vehicles that he had previously seen in the Hanging Edge, and off in the distance, he could even seen what was left of the Vestige resting at an angle while the lower half of it was buried beneath the crystallized ground. It was all incredibly beautiful and yet also intimidating in Peter's mind. If this was something that was caused by the fal'Cie, then just what else could it have been able to do.

He was stirred from those worrying thoughts when Sazh suddenly spoke up. "This must be…Lake Bresha?" The man stated as he looked around, trying to figure out what had happened. "I guess we fell from up there, and the lake turned to crystal? Help me out here! I mean, did the fal'Cie do this? How in the world did we end up here?"

"How should I know," Lightning immediately responded before turning to Spider-Man, silently asking if he had an answer.

"Hey, don't look at me. I'm just as lost as you guys are," Spidey shrugged.

"We're alive," Vanille suddenly whispered just loudly enough for everyone to hear. "How?"

"Serah," Snow exclaimed, drawing everyone's attention to him, along with a glare from Lightning. "No one survives a fall from that high, not without a miracle. Serah saved us!"

"I don't know. I probably could've, and I definitely know a few guys who could have survived it and just walked it off like a bug bite," Spider-Man muttered, hoping that Lightning heard him since he could tell that she was likely about to go off on him again. His hunch was right, because Lightning was just about to tear Snow a new one, until he suddenly picked up on something that needed to be announced. "Uh guys, my Spider-Sense is tingling!"

"And I think I can see why," Sazh shouted as he scrambled away from the area he and Lightning had been standing in, while Lightning spun around to face the massive Cie'th. Unlike the ones that they had encountered before, this one was a deep, icy blue color, and had large arms without any visible fingers of any kind, and it almost seemed to have something like a skirt around its surprising in legs.

Seeing Lightning was in danger prompted Snow to act on instinct and charge in just as the monster was bringing its huge arm down on her. After pushing Lightning out of the way, Snow managed to block the Cie'th's arm with both of his, and pushed it back with little problem when something unexpected happened. Upon pushing the monster's arm back, Snow's lower left arm and fist suddenly started to glow an icy blue just as he was drawing said arm back to deliver a haymaker of a punch, and when his attack connected, it ended up sending the Cie'th flying away, surprising everyone, including Spider-Man. It was not the first time that he had seen a seemingly normal person hit something like the Cie'th as hard as Snow did, but the fact that Snow had managed to do so without even trying was what had sent him into shock.

Apparently, Snow was just as surprised as everyone else, because he could only stare at his arm as the glow around it faded, his eyes widening a little more when he noticed a familiar mark was now on his lower arm. "What did I…just do," Snow asked in disbelief, hoping that he was wrong in thinking what it seemed like.

"You used magic," Hope exclaimed, jumping to his feet as more Cie'th like the one Snow had just blasted away started to surround them. "You used the power of a l'Cie. The fal'Cie cursed us. We're l'Cie now!"

"Well that's just perfect. Like we weren't already dealing with enough problems," Spider-Man remarked sarcastically as he fired a few quick web-bullets at some of the incoming Cie'th. "How about we fight these guys first and worry about the full details concerning any new abilities everyone here may or may not have later?"

"Right," Lightning nodded as she drew her gunblade, with the others following her lead in doing the same seconds later, and the battle began.

Then again, perhaps calling it a battle would not have been entirely accurate. In truth, it was more like the newly marked l'Cie were experimenting with their new powers and discover what sorts of magic they possessed as they took down the Cie'th in a one-sided fight. During that time, they discovered the specific types of magic that each person possessed in addition to their newly boosted strength along with the fact that they now had a higher tolerance for injury and pain. Though the latter was probably obvious from Snow's earlier encounter with the first Cie'th, finding out that Snow could use ice magic, Lightning could use thunder magic, Vanille wind, and Sazh and Hope could both use fire magic was a very beneficial discovery. Throughout the whole battle though, one thing stood out above everything else. The entire time he was fighting, Spider-Man did not once use any magic at all, but instead just stuck with his usual repertoire of abilities and tech. This confused the others, but for Spider-Man it was only natural to fall back on talents and skills that he had possessed for so many years. Of course, there was also another reason for this: whenever Spidey did stop and try to use the same magic as the others, he found himself unable to do so.

 _'Okay, how is it that the others get a serious power upgrade while I'm just stuck with what I've always had? Seriously, how's that fair,'_ Spider-Man thought to himself just as the fight had come to a close.

"So we really are l'Cie," Snow panted once it was confirmed that they were in the clear for the moment.

Lightning merely rolled her eyes at the blonde's statement of the obvious, while Sazh just looked at the mark that was now on his chest and sighed, "Looks like it."

Snow then turned to Vanille and asked, "You too?"

"Yep. Right here," the redhead nodded sadly before showing that her mark was placed on the back of her upper left thigh, making Spider-Man immediately turn his head away while blocking his eyes with one hand.

"Okay," Snow muttered as he looked away too. He did not want to know why her mark was there.

"I did not need to see that," Spidey muttered as he made sure to keep his gaze away until he was sure that Vanille had lowered her skirt again.

"Hold up. Is it even possible for someone to be a l'Cie for two fal'Cie," Sazh suddenly asked. When everyone looked at him in confusion, he immediately indicated the web-head and said, "I mean, Spider-Man was obviously a l'Cie before he came in there with us, so is it possible that he was branded by the fal'Cie too?"

"Okay whoa! Whoa, whoa! Where on earth did you get the idea that I was a l'Cie," Spider-Man demanded.

"Do you really have to ask," Snow questioned, looking at him like it was obvious.

Spider-Man just looked around at the others for a minute before he finally shot them all a deadpan look that somehow showed through his mask and asked, "This is because I can stick to walls, isn't it?"

"And dodge bullets, and attacks that you don't normally see coming," Snow added.

"And you shoot webs," Sazh chimed in.

"Hey, first off, I don't shoot webs myself. I have a pair of wrist devices for that," Spidey revealed, showing the group one of the web shooters he was currently wearing on his wrists to prove the point. "Secondly, I'm _not_ a l'Cie. I wasn't before we fought the fal'Cie, and for some reason, I'm not now…At least, I don't think I am."

"Well how else can you do all of that other stuff," Sazh demanded.

"Because I got bit by a genetically altered spider several years ago," Spider-Man casually replied, sounding almost as though he was talking about the most basic and well-known facts. When he received nothing but disbelieving looks in response, he let out a sigh and said, "It's true! I was bit by a genetically altered spider, and I woke up the next day able to do whatever a spider can, except spinning webs, which again, I gave myself by creating my web shooters."

"…No offense, Spidey, but that's a pretty crazy story," Snow stated.

"What do you want me to do? Strip down and let you guys search me for a l'Cie brand," Spider-Man asked. When he was met with only silence, he immediately argued, "Oh no! No, nonononono. Nuh-uh. Forget it!" Still, the group's looks remained unchanged, so in the end, he just sighed and said, "Lightning, Vanille, turn around and close your eyes. And, maybe you too, Hope, if you're uncomfortable with this."

Both girls did as they were told, while Hope just glanced away, uncomfortably, and from that point on, all the three heard was the sounds of Sazh and Snow searching Spider-Man's body for a l'Cie brand. It did not sound any different from what such a search would be like for a minute, but then they heard Snow and Sazh suddenly let out a cry of surprise, followed by groans of pain and Spider-Man quickly redressing himself. When the web-head said it was okay for them to look now, the three turned around to see Snow and Sazh lying flat on their backs while Spider-Man was readjusting his shirt so that it was on straight.

"What happened," Vanille asked.

"Well, we confirmed that he doesn't have a l'Cie brand anywhere on most of his body, but then Trench Coat figured that it might be on his face, so we asked him to take off the mask so we could see," Sazh explained as he and Snow started to stand up. "When he said no, we tried to take it off ourselves, and the next thing we know, we're getting judo flipped onto our backs like it was nothing."

"Seriously, for a little guy, Spidey's seriously strong," Snow groaned as he rolled his shoulder a little.

"Hey, you know what they say, appearances can be deceiving," Spider-Man shrugged. "More to the point, you guys were trying to get me to unmask, revealing my secret identity. What did you expect to happen?"

Lightning let out a silent scoff of annoyance and marched up to Spider-Man, silencing everyone in an instant when she did. The minute she was standing right in front of the web-head, she glanced back at the others and ordered, "Cover your eyes and look away. Now."

No one argued with the former soldier, having discovered that doing so was either useless or ill-advised by now, and once they had, Lightning gave Spider-Man an even look that made it very clear what she wanted him to do. After double checking to make sure that the others were not looking, and that no one else was around to see, Spider-Man lifted his mask up just enough for his face to be visible, allowing Lightning to see the face of Peter Parker in an instant. Seeing Peter's face should not have been too great a deal for Lightning, but some reason, she found herself pausing for a minute to just stare at him. That was when it clicked in her mind that this was now at least the third time that she had stood this close to Peter while he was unmasked, and as such, she was also able to get a much closer look at his deep brown eyes and a few other features on his face that would only be present in the face of a person who had been through a great deal of trials and tribulations in a short span of their lifetime. When it got to the point where she finally realized she had been staring too long, Lightning gave herself a mental snap before turning away with a faint blush and told him to put the mask back on.

"There's no brand on his face either. He's not a l'Cie," Lightning confirmed to the others.

"What? How did…How'd you convince him to," Sazh stuttered in disbelief.

"Because she knows," Snow gasped. "You know who Spider-Man really is, don't you, Sis?"

"I'm not your sister," Lightning snapped. "And so what if I do? You really think I'm going to tell you?"

"In her defense, I did make her swear not to tell anyone, so go easy on her in that regard, okay," Spider-Man cut in before another argument could break out between the two.

"But why is Spider-Man the only one who isn't a l'Cie? Why all the rest of us," Hope asked after falling to his knees again, and it was clear that he was about to break down from all the stress of what had happened up until now. "I don't even know you, but you had to go and attack that thing? Why didn't you just listen to Spider-Man when he said not to," Hope snapped, turning to Lightning. When Lightning said nothing, he dropped his gaze again and said, "Why is this happening to me? When they found the fal'Cie the other day, we were just visiting Bodhum, but the army took us, threw us on that train, and then…Why couldn't you just…" Everyone was looking at the boy with sympathy and sorrow, but that disappeared for at least two people when Hope rounded on Snow and shouted, "All of this is your and Serah's fault!"

"Watch it," Snow immediately snapped in response. There were very few things that could get him mad enough to lose his cool, and insulting Serah in anyway like Hope just did was at the top of the list of things that could do just that.

Hope was not expecting Snow to snap at him like that, and as such he fell back onto the ground and immediately started to crawl away from Snow as quickly as possible, thinking that the big man was going to attack him for his comment. His retreat halted when his back suddenly hit something, and he slowly looked up to see Lightning glaring down at him with her arms crossed, clearly just as ticked off at his remark as Snow was at the moment. The only difference between Snow and Lightning was that the latter was a former soldier, and when you coupled that with the cold look she was giving him, you could easily see why the boy was much more terrified of her, right to the point where he was scrambling away from her as well so that he could duck his head down.

Like the typical hero he was, Spider-Man was instantly kneeling down next to Hope so that he could come to his defense while simultaneously throwing both Snow and Lightning a look. "Hey, I know that a lot of things have changed recently, and you're scared by it all. I mean, given all that I've heard so far about l'Cie and such, I would be too, but you shouldn't try to take it out on others. If anything, we've gotta stick together now, okay?"

Lightning just turned away, not wanting anyone to see that she might be considering Spidey's words even a little, but also thinking that he was being ridiculous, while Snow on the other hand had the decency to show that he felt bad about how he had reacted. "Sorry Hope," the blonde apologized. "I shouldn't have reacted like that."

Hope just glanced at Snow a little, still having a hard time facing him because of what happened to his mom, despite what the blonde had said back in the Vestige, but he did at least acknowledge in his mind that he had also been out of line. A minute later, he felt a weight on both shoulders, and turned to see Vanille looking at him with a gentle, comforting smile. "Everything is gonna be all right, just like Spidey said. You'll see," the redhead reassured Hope. She then helped him to his feet and said, "Come on. Off we go."

When Vanille's words registered in his mind, Spider-Man looked between the other three adults and the two kids that were now heading off to parts unknown before he took off after them, calling out, "Hey, wait! Come back here! We may not be in the Vestige anymore, but that doesn't mean this place is any safer!"

The other three knew Spider-Man was right, and were soon following after him and the two kids as well, with Lightning trailing a little behind them due to needing a minute to cool off just a bit while also trying to think about the big questions they were currently facing.

* * *

The group did not go a very long way, but to Spider-Man, it did feel like they traveled a long distance. Being someone who normally traveled around at a fast pace, usually due to web-swinging at the very least, going around on foot like this felt really restricting and slow to him, but somehow, he talked himself into toughing it out for the sake of the others. Just looking around could tell you that any one of them was liable to snap for some reason at some point, and somehow, he had landed himself in the position of peacemaker, so Spidey made sure to stay close as much as possible. Thankfully, some of the group was able to keep themselves calm and in control to a greater extent than others, as Sazh eventually pointed out.

"Trust the soldier to keep her cool through this mess," the older man noted.

"Technically she's an ex-soldier," Spider-Man reminded him.

Lightning just rolled her eyes at the two before she drove everyone's attention to one of the more important matters at hand. "Okay, so if we don't know our Focus, how do we complete it?"

"Wait, what do you mean, you don't know your Focus? I mean, didn't that thing give you some kind of mental instructions or something," Spider-Man asked.

"Well…I think…I did see it," Vanille revealed.

"See what," Lightning asked, confusion now present on her face.

"That is how a Focus comes down, people. The fal'Cie? They don't spell it out with clear-cut instructions. All you get is a hazy glimpse," Sazh revealed.

"What like a dream or some weird vision or something," Spider-Man asked, while Snow and Lightning looked at Sazh with slightly suspicious looks.

"Well, yeah. I mean, that's what they say. You know, legends and all," Sazh stuttered in response.

Putting aside how knowledgeable Sazh seemed to be on this subject, Lightning turned to Spider-Man and asked, "Did you see anything?"

"Why would I have seen something? I wasn't made a l'Cie for some reason, remember," Spidey pointed out. He then paused for a minute before he revealed, "Actually, now that you mention it, just before we passed out, I think that thing we saw that made you guys into l'Cie said something to me."

"Wait, you mean the fal'Cie spoke to you," Sazh asked.

"I'm not so sure that the thing that turned you into l'Cie actually was the fal'Cie we were fighting, but yeah, it did say something to me. I don't think it'll be much help though," Spider-Man shrugged.

"At this point, we'll take anything we can get that might help," Lightning pointed out.

Spider-Man shrugged in reply and then revealed, "I'm not entirely sure I heard right, but I'm pretty sure that it said, and I quote, 'Guide them well in the trials that await them, Spider Totem of the Great Web.'"

"Well, that's absolutely no help," Lightning sighed, irritably. She then turned to Hope and asked, "What about you? Did you see something?"

Hope looked away for a minute, still a little unsure and nervous around Lightning, given what had happened earlier, but a minute later, Spidey was next to him and placing a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Hey, don't worry, alright," the web-head reassured the kid. "I know Lightning seems a little intimidating, scary, unapproachable, and a lot of other things, but she is just trying to help. Just take your time."

Hope did not see the scowl Lightning threw at Spider-Man for what he had said, and eventually said, "I…It's all kind of foggy, but…I saw this big, _towering_ …thing…"

"W-wait a minute," Sazh interrupted, a look of recognition on his face. "Hold on now. Did we _all_ have the same dream?"

That seemed to be the case, because Vanille had a look of recognition on her face, and Lightning and Snow both said one word a minute later at the same time. "Ragnarok."

"Okay, I know that Ragnarok is one word for end of the world, but I'm guessing it means something else here," Spider-Man commented.

"Ragnarok was a creature that a Pulse l'Cie had turned into during the War of Transgression six hundred years ago," Lightning revealed. "It's because of Ragnarok that there's huge scar in Cocoon's shell, but before it could do anymore damage, it seemed to just disappear, like it never even existed."

"And yet it did, if your history is to be believed, along with the vision you just had," Spider-Man noted.

"Yep, and we all had the same dream, and heard that same voice," Sazh confirmed.

"You mean that was our Focus," Hope asked, getting a nod from Sazh in reply.

"Not very specific on the instructions though. I mean, you get a weird dream of the thing and that's it? How're you supposed to know what to do from that," Spider-Man asked.

"That's the tricky part," Vanille said. "The dream's the only hint the fal'Cie gives us. Figuring out what to do with it-that's our job."

"And you have to figure it out in an unspecified amount of time? Jeez, and I thought my old boss was overly demanding at times," Spidey quipped.

Lightning was about to come down on Spider-Man for making light of the situation in the way that he was, when Sazh interrupted with some thoughts on what to make of their vision. "Okay, okay…We're Pulse l'Cie, right? Enemies of Cocoon. So, does that mean that our Focus is…Are we supposed to…"

"Save her," Snow interrupted.

"Come again/Say what," Spider-Man and Sazh asked, respectively.

"Our Focus is to protect Cocoon," Snow stated, confidently.

"Really? Okay, why's that," Vanille asked.

"Serah told us," Snow replied. "Let's do it. We're all in this together. I'm gonna look for Serah. She ought to be nearby."

With that, the big man was off to do as he said he would, with Vanille saying she would help and taking off shortly after while the others just stared after them both for a minute, most of them wondering how Snow made such a leap in logic to arrive at his conclusion of what their Focus might be. Just as they were nearing the point that they would start to fall out of sight, Sazh sighed and said, "That boy just can't stay still!"

"Really," Hope nodded in agreement before he and Sazh both moved to follow after the other two.

Lightning merely huffed and glared off into the distance, away from where the others had gone off to, clearly not wanting to so much as look in the direction of where Snow had been, and Spider-Man just watched on as she did for a minute before he said, "You know they're probably not going to last very long without us, right?"

"I think that's a given, but why should I really care," Lightning asked.

"Maybe because for one thing, your sister's fiancé is among their group," Spider-Man pointed out. When Lightning looked at him with a low growl, he quickly added, "And they are trying to find your sister, who I'm sure you want to see at least one more time to make sure she's okay before we leave here."

"Of course she's not okay! She's…" Lightning was still having a hard time saying what she thought about what had now happened to Serah, and Spidey could tell, even though she was hiding it well.

"She would want her big sister or the guy she clearly loves to find her before someone else does," Spider-Man stated softly. When Lightning continued to just stand where she was, Spidey decided that he would have to resort to different tactics to get her to come with them. "You know, if you don't come with us willingly, I'm going to have to make you come."

"I'd like to see you try," Lightning challenged.

"All right, if you insist," Spider-Man shrugged.

Lightning smirked a little at that, thinking she had won this round, but a minute later, her feet left the ground, and she was suddenly slung over on Spider-Man's back. Looking around, she saw that he was indeed carrying her after the others, and had also swiped her gunblade from its case while she had not been paying attention so that she could not use it to get out of his grip. "What do you think you're doing," Lightning demanded.

"Since you're going to be difficult, I'm going to carry you until you decide to help out willingly," Spider-Man replied. "Hey, you said you wanted to see me try, and I think I'm doing pretty good so far."

"Yeah, good for you, now put me down," Lightning snarled.

"Hmm, tempting, but no. We've got a lot of ground to cover if we want to catch up with the others, and no offense, but you'll slow me down if we go at your pace."

"What do you mean…No. Don't you dare…" Lightning's threat died in her throat, because a minute later, they were flying through the air via Spider-Man's web-zipping, despite any protests that the former soldier had. Not that the web-swinger would have listened to said protests anyway.

* * *

Spider-Man continued to carry Lightning even after they had caught up with the others, much to the disbelief of some and the humor of others. He did not trust her to not attack him the minute he let her down, and since his Spider-Sense did not seem to register her as a threat even when she was actively attacking him in some way, he was not about to take any chances at all. Eventually, he did end up putting her down, but only after making her promise to not attack him and to stick with the rest of the group, at least until they had gotten to somewhere that was possibly safe, or at least safer than their current location was. She managed to deal with not being able to get back at Peter by punching Snow in the face, though part of that was because he had been one of the people who had been laughing at how Spider-Man had been carrying her.

After that little scene, and making sure that Snow was not too terribly hurt by Lightning's punch, the group continued on, all of them wondering about just what their Focus was. Snow was adamant in his belief that their Focus was to save Cocoon, and while Vanille seemed to at least be considering the idea, she was just as skeptical as everyone else was. Still, the idea that their Focus might be to save Cocoon was one that they found much more appealing as opposed to what else it could be, but then again, that just reminded them of what would happen if they did succeed. In Spider-Man's opinion, being a l'Cie just led to the ultimate case of damned if you do and damned if you don't, and they all shared that sentiment, not that they could really do anything about it now though. Of course, that was not the only thing that they were thinking about, because there was also one other question that was predominant in all of their minds.

"Why the hell did that thing make all of us l'Cie and not Spider-Man? I mean, he was right there with us in that…whatever it was, so why is he the only one that the fal'Cie didn't change," Sazh asked aloud, voicing the question everyone was wondering.

At that point, Spider-Man stopped in his tracks and said, "Maybe that isn't the case."

"Beg your pardon," Sazh asked, coming to a stop along with everyone else so that they could give the web-head their full attention.

"Remember when we were all in that area, and got hit by those beams before blacking out," Spider-Man asked.

"Yeah. Now that you mention it, I think it hit me right where my mark is," Snow mused. "What's that got to do with anything though?"

"Well if that is the case, then that's what officially turned you guys into l'Cie, and I was hit by that beam multiple times, so by all accounts I _should_ be a l'Cie as well," Spider-Man explained.

"And yet your still the same as before," Lightning finished. "You're thinking that the fal'Cie tried to make you a l'Cie but failed."

Spider-Man instantly nodded in confirmation, prompting Hope to ask, "But why would it work on the rest of us and not you?"

"Well, what if becoming a l'Cie really is like getting a disease, or something similar," Spider-Man proposed. "I have a heightened healing factor that keeps me from getting infected by a variety of diseases, and yet somehow, I can still catch a case of the common cold, so what if something in my blood kept it at bay?"

"That's a pretty big theory," Sazh commented.

"I know, but it's the only thing I can think of, and it probably doesn't make a lot of sense, but if that is the case, then maybe if I can get to a lab or something, I can come up with a way to change you guys back using my blood," Spider-Man insisted.

"I'd hold off on that if I were you. While your guess is incorrect, you're actually closer to the truth than you think, Spider-Man," a new, female voice suddenly interrupted, startling the entire group to the point where most of them were immediately on guard for an impending attack, while a strange mist seemed to begin creeping in around them.

When he saw that some of his new friends were preparing to draw weapons and fight, or were just starting to panic, Spidey immediately waved for them to calm down and shouted, "Wait, it's okay! I've got a pretty good idea who this is."

"You do," Lightning asked.

"Creepy, echoing voice, strange mist forming around us, and let's not forget that my Spider-Sense isn't tingling," Spider-Man listed before turning around to where the mist was the most densely formed. "All of this can only mean one person: Madame Web."

Just as Spider-Man had said this, a red-haired woman suddenly appeared before the group with a neutral expression on her face that immediately changed into a small smile upon noticing Spider-Man. Looking over her appearance, one could see that she was dressed in an outfit that covered her entire body except her head, colored in two different shades of red, aside from the white spider-symbol that seemed to wrap around her chest. On her face, she wore a pair of heavily tinted, red goggles that seemed rather similar to glasses, and from what it looked like to the others, the eyewear was so heavily tinted that one would be hard-pressed to be able to really see out of them even a little, if at all. Even without Spider-Man's exclamation from earlier, they would have been a bit surprised if this woman was not somehow familiar with Spidey at the very least.

That suspicion was proven to be true when Spider-Man looked directly at her and said, "What took you so long? I've been stuck here for days and you only show up now?! I think you might be losing your touch, Julia."

"And you clearly can't just say hello like everyone else. It's always nothing but complaints when I show up to talk with you," Madame Web easily quipped in reply.

"Like you're one to talk about proper greetings," Spidey returned. "And I probably wouldn't complain so much if you would show up just to say hi a little more often. With you it's always warnings of impending doom, bad news, or some other less than pleasing exchange."

Madame Web just smirked in response before she said, "I did once, and you kept jumping at shadows waiting for me to drop a bomb of bad news on you the entire time."

Spider-Man did not have a response for that, but was not about to let Julia know that, so instead he said, "Seriously though, what took you so long to finally show up? Again, stuck here for days and nothing. Not even a note."

That brought a frown to Madame Web's face before she pointed out, "Do you have any idea how vast and ever-expanding reality is, or just how many Spider-Heroes there are in it? Trying to find just one in all of it isn't exactly easy, even for me. And besides that…"

There was something about the way that Madame Web had trailed off at the end there that gave Peter a very unpleasant feeling in his stomach, and he was not sure he wanted to know why. Still, his curiosity won out in the end, and he asked, "Julia, what else is there?"

Madame Web just sighed in response and revealed, "Spider-Man, you've been gone for months. As far as the rest of our world knows, you're…you're dead."

This was definitely not news that Peter wanted to hear, which was only natural, because no one wanted to be told that everyone thought they were dead, but what he found more unsettling was the fact that he had been gone for months. He had been hoping that it had only been a few weeks at the most, but several months? He was going to have to come up with quite the story to tell everyone who did not know his secret identity when he got back home. Before he could start brainstorming though, the two spiders were reminded that they were not the only ones in the area when Sazh suddenly groaned in frustration.

"Okay, seriously, what is going on here?! What're you two talking about?! Why are you making it sound like Spidey's from another planet or something," Sazh practically shouted, his little chocobo letting out a few small cheeps in startled surprise.

Madame Web looked around at the group before she asked her old friend, "You didn't tell them anything about you?"

"You're the psychic; why do you even need to ask," Spider-Man quipped.

"I only just found out where you were in reality, so you'll have to excuse me if I'm still getting caught up," Madame Web pointed out. "Now, do you want me to tell them, or are you going to do it?"

"No, I've got it," Spider-Man dismissed. He then turned to the others and said, "Guys, the truth is I'm a superhero from another universe, and I was accidentally sent here after an accident during what is likely going to end up being my final battle against one of my greatest archenemies."

No one said anything for a minute, but everyone other than Lightning did gain a look of complete and utter, jaw-dropping shock at this news. After a minute though, Hope seemed to find his voice and said, "But…But that's impossible. Alternate universes and stuff like that are all just a theory that no one's ever been able to prove."

"Well, not only have I proven it, but as far as you guys are concerned, I'm living proof of it. I've actually been to other universes several times before now," Spider-Man admitted.

At this remark, Snow actually ended up chuckling a little. "Come on. This is just some kind of weird joke, right? I mean, you're not actually from another universe, are you?"

"He is, actually. Spider-Man and I both come from a universe outside your own, and much like our two universes not being the only ones in existence, we are not the only spiders in existence either," Madame Web revealed. She then raised an open hand behind her and announced, "Behold, the Great Web of Life and Destiny, and the multiverse of the Spider-Heroes, more commonly known as the Spider-Verse."

A moment later, what looked like a massive spider web suddenly expanded out from where Madame Web's hand was, and the group was greeted by an incredible sight. In the gaps between the various threads of the web, they saw various images of Spider-Man swinging on web-lines, fighting evil, and working with other heroes that were clad in strange outfits similar to his. At the same time, they could also see a number of differences between the Spider-Man standing before them, both in terms of his costume and in other ways as well. One Spider-Man they spotted actually wore a suit of armor with gold eyes instead of white ones on the helmet, and seemed to be fighting alongside a number of humans and various aliens against strange machines; another one wore a suit that was similar to their Spider-Man, aside from the symbol, which was black on the front and red on the back with the lower legs being longer than the top ones, and fighting with other costumed heroes, the most notable being a redheaded woman dressed like a bat and a man with a shield; a third still wore a suit that seemed to be the most basic and common of all the other Spider-Men's suits and also fought alongside other heroes, but the most common for him was a woman with pink hair and angel wings, a man in a yellow and brown bodysuit carrying two sabers, and a woman in a white and black-striped cat suit. The list of various Spider-Heroes just went on and on, and they all continued to find more once they thought they had spotted them all.

"Damn," Sazh whistled.

"This is incredible," Hope mused.

Lightning just stared for a minute, taking note of a Spider-Man who seemed to be swinging through a very futuristic looking city in a suit that had the main colors of Spider-Man's costume in reverse, meaning the blue was more dominant than the red, along with a Spider-Man in an all-black suit in an old-looking, gritty town, and a third Spider-Man in a black suit with red webs and spider-symbol, until she finally said, "Remember when you first told me about how you were from another dimension and I thought you had suffered a head injury, Spider-Man? I'd like to finally apologize for that, because I officially believe you now."

"No apologies necessary, but thanks," Spider-Man nodded.

Vanille and Snow both just continued looking at the web full of various Spider-Heroes, until the redhead spotted something she found interesting. "Hey, I think that one's actually a girl."

Looking to where Vanille was pointing, Spidey just smiled behind his mask when he saw the image of a young woman dressed in an outfit similar to his late clone and brother, Ben Riley the Scarlet Spider, and said, "Well I'd be a little surprised if there wasn't a few women in this thing. Madame Web did say that this was a multiverse of Spider- _Heroes_ , not just Spider- _Men_."

"So then, do you know who all of these guys are," Vanille asked.

"Not all of them," Spider-Man admitted. "But I have met some of them at least once in my life. I do know that one that you spotted pretty well though. That is the Spider-Girl from an alternate future, otherwise known as Mayday to her friends and family. She's my daughter."

"Your daughter," Snow exclaimed. "You're married?!"

"Uh no, I'm not. I did say that she's my daughter in an _alternate_ future, Snow, and while I did used to date the woman that would've been Mayday's mother, it didn't last," Spider-Man revealed. "And while we're on the subject, don't think that there's only one Spider-Hero in each universe, because I've actually worked with at least six others, not counting Julia here or the previous Madame Web."

As interesting as all of this was, it had gotten them all a bit off topic, a fact that Lightning quickly pointed out when she spoke up again. "I'll admit this is all very impressive to know, but I believe that you said that you knew why Spider-Man isn't a l'Cie," the former soldier asked Madame Web.

"Indeed I do, Miss Farron," Madame Web replied.

"How did you…" Lightning started to ask, since she knew that she did not give her name to this woman.

"Again, she's psychic. She always knows these types of things," Spider-Man answered.

"Yes, but back on topic, the reason why Spider-Man is not a l'Cie like the rest of you is because he is one of the totems of the Great Web," Madame Web revealed. When everyone just looked at her in silence for a minute, she then added, "Perhaps I should explain in more detail."

"That would be nice, if you don't mind," Sazh nodded encouragingly.

Madame Web then waved her hand at the projection of the Great Web, and the various images fell away to be replaced by images of massive beings face-to-face with creatures that seemed to be part spider, and the images slowly shifted as she regaled the group with her tale. "Many eons ago, when reality was in its early stages of beginning and the Great Web was first being woven into existence, the beings you know as Bhunivelze, Pulse, and Etro came into conflict with the first Master Weavers. No one knows why this had happened, as the reason was lost to the ages, but what is known is that the two sides clashed time and again with one another, resulting in the loss of many of the Master Weavers. For a time it did not seem as though the conflict would ever end, until Etro met with and spoke to one brave Master Weaver in peaceful talks. Their conversations soon earned Etro a vote of faith, trust, and friendship from the Master Weavers, and served as the first step in ending the conflict before all was lost."

"You see, since reality was still in its early stages of forming at the time, this war the two sides were fighting would have destroyed everything before it had a chance to truly begin, and with Etro's help, the remaining Master Weavers sought to bring the conflict to a close. Sadly, Bhunivelze and Pulse would not hear of it. Their desire to find the door to the unseen world, which you now know as Etro's Gate, was far too great for them to even consider peace, so they made a compromise. So long as Bhunivelze and Pulse did nothing to interfere with or harm the Great Web or its totems or wield the powers it grants, the Master Weavers would not use their powers to interfere with those that they Bhunivelze and Pulse granted power to. In simplistic terms, the Master Weaver and I cannot pass power onto those who have been branded by either of those two supposed gods or their fal'Cie, and they cannot pass power onto those who hold a connection to the Great Web. So long as this pact was maintained, the war between the two would never begin again."

A vast majority of the group were all left in awe of this story. To think that the beings they had long since known as all-powerful gods of life and death had actually clashed with someone of equal power, and not only that, but this someone was also responsible for creating the multiverse that Spider-Man was a part of. It was all simply amazing, to put it mildly, and seeing the images that Madame Web used to aid in telling the story allowed them to have a better grasp on just how incredible the entire event was. Still, there was one person who did not seem entirely satisfied with this explanation. "Wait, you mean that's it," Spider-Man asked.

"What do you mean," Madame Web asked, her question reflected in the expressions of the others when they turned to him.

"Well I mean knowing all of this is good, sure, but aside from that, it sounds like you're telling me that the reason why I'm not a l'Cie right now is because I'm Spider-Man."

"Technically there's a great deal of what you would call web-magic mumbo jumbo involved, along with several other details that would likely go over your head or just give you a headache in trying to grasp it, but in the most simplistic of terms, yes that is the reason," Madame Web admitted.

"Why are you complaining, Spidey? You're basically l'Cie proof without even trying," Snow pointed out.

"I know, and I'm glad about that, but I was really hoping that the explanation was a bit more scientific. You know, because I can work with science, and I'd be able to find out what that reason is so that I could maybe create a cure to change you guys and Serah back to normal," Spider-Man reasoned.

Everyone could understand the reasoning behind Spider-Man's words, but Lightning had fallen into an ill mood once again when her sister was mentioned. "How many times do I have to say it? It's over! There is no helping Serah! I wish it weren't true, but it is," Lightning ranted.

"There is a way. She's not dead, and that means there a way to save her," Snow insisted once more.

"No," Lightning continued to argue.

Seeing that they were going to just keep going in this circle forever if something was not done soon, Spider-Man groaned, "Oh for crying out loud. Madame Web, can you please help us out and put an end to this whole argument of theirs once and for all?"

"That depends on what you're asking," the overseer of the Great Web replied.

"Is Serah alive or not, and is there a way to save her?"

Lightning and Snow both locked their gazes on the woman who had just appeared out of thin air, anxious to hear the answer as well. After a minute or so, Madame Web said, "Serah Farron is alive, and yet she isn't. Whether or not that changes in the near future depends on all of you, whether you can learn to truly trust and overcome the struggles ahead."

"…What," was the collective question from everyone other than Spider-Man.

"Would it kill you to give a straight answer just once? Why is it always these crazy riddles that make absolutely no sense with you," the wall-crawler asked.

"As you yourself have said, Spider-Man, I'm psychic, but that does not mean that any particular future I see is set in stone. I see probabilities of things that may or may not come to pass, not a set path. The probabilities of things that will happen increase or decrease depending on the actions that you and the others will take," Madame Web pointed out.

"So basically, you're completely useless to us," Lightning scoffed. "Why are you even here to begin with, aside from telling us why Spider-Man's not a l'Cie?"

"Isn't it obvious? She's here to take Spidey back home," Snow stated. "Think about it; if Spidey's from another universe, then it would make sense that she would be looking for him in order to take him home."

"But…but we need Spider-Man with us. That isn't why you're here, is it," Hope stuttered, not liking the idea of having Spidey taken away from them when they needed him most.

"That's…part of the reason, assuming he wants to return," Madame Web hesitantly admitted, and her hesitance was not lost.

"Why would he not want to," Sazh asked. In his mind, everyone wanted to be able to return to the home that they came from, so it did not make sense why Madame Web would say that Spider-Man would probably not want to return to where he came from.

Madame Web hesitated for a minute until she looked to Spider-Man with sorrowful look on her face. "Spider-Man…something's…something's happened in the time you were gone."

It did not take the look on Julia's face or the sound of her voice for Peter to start drawing a conclusion on what she was talking about, and it was not a good one at all. "No…No, please Julia, don't say it. Not her," Spidey begged, causing the whole group, including Lightning to look at him in stunned surprise at how desperate he sounded.

Unfortunately, Madame Web was unable to heed his request. This was something he had to know. "I'm sorry, Spider-Man, but…your aunt has passed away. She had a heart attack about a month after you disappeared and were reported dead. The doctors did all that they could, but in the end, it wasn't enough. She passed away peacefully."

That was all it took for Spider-Man to fall to his knees, his head bowed in sorrow, and it was clear to everyone that he was more than likely about to start crying. While Lightning knew why this was, the others were just left confused, and it must have showed on their faces, because Madame Web turned to them and revealed, "His aunt was the only living family that Spider-Man had left, and she had raised him like her own son ever since he was just a small boy."

"No," Vanille whispered sadly, while the others just gasped in horror at this news, and she was soon bowing her head in prayer while she folded her hands in the way that she always did when she was praying in some way.

This news had varying results for everyone. For Snow, he was just upset because it meant that now Spider-Man was just like him in the sense that he had no family left, yet at the same time, he could see more of a resemblance between the web-swinger and Lightning, given the recent events, and he could only clench his fists in anger due to the reminder of how he had failed to save Serah before she had turned to crystal. Sazh on the other hand was not sure what to think beyond the fact that he felt sorry for Spider-Man. The man had selflessly risked his life so that Sazh's son would be okay just a few days ago, and since Dajh was all that Sazh had left, aside from Chocobo, he had a pretty good idea of what Spidey was feeling right about now. Hope was able to sympathize with Spidey as well, having lost his own mother just recently, and he wanted to do something to help cheer up Spider-Man a little like how the wall-crawler had been trying to do for him along with Vanille. The only problem was, he did not know what he could say or do right now so he ended up just standing where he was, too shocked to move or speak.

Out of everyone's reactions, only Lightning's was the most notable, because about a minute after Madame Web's revelation, she was kneeling down next to Spider-Man and attempting to try and comfort him as best as she could. She would be the first to admit that she was not very good at doing such a thing, but given that she and Peter had both now just at least received news of such a terrible loss, she felt that she was also the best person to try and comfort him right now, hence the reason why she was now pulling Spidey up into a sitting position so that she could properly hug him. Peter instantly accepted Lightning's gesture, feeling a need for it right at that moment, and the minute his arms were around her, Lightning tightened her hold a little more as a way of silently telling him that she was not going to let him go through this pain alone, and Peter recognized this with very little problem.

The two stayed like that for a few more minutes, and when they finally pulled apart, Lightning helped Peter to his feet so that he could speak with Madame Web about what he wanted to do in regards to whether or not he would be going back to his dimension. "Sorry, Julia, but I'm not going back," Spider-Man stated.

"Hey, hold on now. You should really think about this before making a decision this big," Sazh cautioned. "I get that you probably feel like you've got nothing left to go home to or something back in your world, but there must be something there for you."

"Barely making enough to get by on bills, no girlfriend, and I'm constantly having to put up with a blowhard newsman who regularly slanders my name even when I do everything I can to help out…Does it sound like I've really got that much to go back to," Spider-Man asked.

"Well, there is Scarlet Spider and Kid Arachnid for one thing, and the fact that you're an Avenger," Julia pointed out.

"They can handle things without me, and besides, maybe it's time for them to try and see how well they do without feeling like they're in my shadow or something," Spidey argued. "Besides, it's not just that. These guys need my help, and I can't just bail on them. You know that I can't, and why that is."

Madame Web looked at Spider-Man for a minute, almost as though she were looking directly into his soul and mind, until finally, she smiled and said, "I'd be a little disappointed if that wasn't the case, though I would be lying if I said that I wasn't sad you were not coming back." She then sighed a bit and said, "Well, I guess all I can do now is head back and inform the others of this, or at least anyone who had not given up on you being alive."

"Hang on, one last thing," Hope requested. "If you are psychic, then does that mean you could tell us what our Focus truly is?"

"I wish I could for many reasons," Madame Web revealed. "Even if I had been looking in on this universe for a while, I would not be able to inform you of what your Focus was. Just as the fal'Cie cannot make Spider-Man a l'Cie, as the overseer of the Great Web, I cannot interfere too much with l'Cie. The only reason I am here before you is because Spider-Man is among your number, and because a fal'Cie had attempted to bestow its curse on him."

"So there's nothing you can tell us about it," Lightning asked. They were desperate for an answer when it came to their Focus, so if Madame Web could tell them something, they would take it.

Madame Web seemed to consider Lightning's question for a minute before she replied, "There is one thing: success can be determined in many ways, but the greatest success can only be achieved when the many are one."

"What does that even mean," Hope asked.

"Don't ask," Spider-Man replied. "Trust me, it'll just get you riddle after riddle after riddle. Personally, I think she gets a bit of a kick out of confusing the thwip out of everyone with those things."

Julia did not confirm or deny that, but she did smile fondly a little before she waved and bade, "Farewell all, and best of luck in the trials that are still to come."

With just those parting words, Madame Web had disappeared as quickly as she had come, and the six were now left on their own with many questions still plaguing them, but relieved that they had at least one answer. It was good that they now knew the exact reason why Spider-Man was not a l'Cie, but at the same time, they had to learn that answer along with the worst news Spidey could have ever received. Sure they learned some pretty incredible things about the web-head and what he was a part of, but all of those great things were dwarfed by the news that his only family was now gone from the world. Still, they were just glad to have the weight of one worry off of their shoulders; they just wished they did not have to deal with the weight that came with the tragic news they had just learned, or the fact that they still did not have all of the answers they needed.

If you were to ask Snow though, they already had all the answers that they needed. "Even if she can't tell us, I think it's obvious what our Focus is. We fight it! Ragnarok," Snow insisted. "That's the reason we're l'Cie. To stop it and keep Cocoon safe."

"Yeah, why don't you give us one reason to believe that? One reason," Sazh requested, and everyone else was quickly throwing their attention to Snow to see how he would answer.

"Serah," Snow replied in full seriousness. "She said to protect Cocoon, and then she turned to crystal. That's the proof right there! She completed her Focus! That means ours is to save Cocoon. Serah's fal'Cie was the same as ours, so our Focus has got to be the same. We were chosen to be guardians, to defeat Ragnarok! It makes sense!"

"The hell it does! You're grasping at straws, son," Sazh argued. "Pulse fal'Cie are Cocoon's enemies, and we just got recruited by one of them. If I were a betting man, I'd put us on the other side."

"So Serah's an enemy, too? Well I don't buy it," Snow insisted.

"Hang on, you both do make pretty strong points," Spider-Man cut in.

"They do," Lightning, Hope, and Vanille all asked in surprise, though Lightning's was much more subdued than the kids'.

"Sazh is right in saying that Pulse was Cocoon's enemy in the past, so the chances of you guys being on the more destructive side of things are pretty good, but then again, Snow's got a few points in his favor too. Like he said, Serah's fal'Cie was the same as yours, and she turned to crystal after asking you to save Cocoon. More to the point, a lot can change in six hundred years, so who's to say that any remaining Pulse fal'Cie or even people from Pulse wouldn't at least consider trying to extend an olive branch in an attempt to make peace with Cocoon, and part of that is by getting someone to defeat Ragnarok before it can make a comeback or destroy everything," Spider-Man explained. "I mean, I've seen people hold a grudge for a long time, and I mean a _really_ long time, but I don't think it's possible to hold a grudge for six hundred years, do you?"

"You see? Spidey thinks it's possible that our Focus is to save Cocoon from Ragnarok, so who's to say that it isn't," Snow emphasized, clearly having ignored the earlier part of Spider-Man's statement.

"I also said the opposite is just as true," Spider-Man pointed out. "All we really have to go on is a vision of Ragnarok and that fal'Cie telling me to 'guide you in the trials ahead.' That's not really a lot to go on."

"But if the fal'Cie do know about you and the other Spider-Heroes, then they know that you're a hero and wouldn't ask you to guide us if they wanted to destroy Cocoon. They'd ask you to stay out of the way," Snow reasoned, and he did have a good point with that. Turning to Lightning, Snow figured he could get some support from her and said, "We have the power to save Cocoon. If we work together and carry out our Focus-"

"Our Focus," Lightning shouted as she whipped out her gunblade and held it to Snow's throat in anger. "The fal'Cie took Serah from us, and you want to help it? Whose side are you on?"

"I'm pretty sure he's trying to be on our side, or at least the side that does the right thing," Spider-Man told Lightning as he placed a hand on her shoulder, hoping she would calm down if he gave her a gentle nudge at least. Though, this was partly because Snow had said that he wanted to use his new powers to save Cocoon, and that did sound like it would be keeping in line with his greatest philosophy, so he was not going to argue.

Before Lightning could consider rounding on Spider-Man as well, someone suddenly shouted for the group to freeze, and they all turned to see a squadron of PSICOM troops surrounding them on all sides. "Place your hands behind your heads," the leader of the PSICOM squad ordered the six.

"Oh and I'm definitely sure he's also not on their side," Spider-Man quietly quipped as he and the others did as asked, though he was not planning to do anything else beyond that.

Lightning calmly analyzed the situation before she finally sighed, dropped her gunblade, and did like the rest of her unexpected teammates were doing. "You fall off the Purge train," the PSICOM leader mockingly asked the group as he stepped towards them.

"Maybe," Lightning shrugged like she really could not care one way or the other what the soldier thought.

"Are you talking back to me," the soldier demanded of Lightning, marching up to her so that he could shove his gun into her face as he did.

"No, she was just answering your question," Spider-Man replied, drawing the leading soldier's attention to him. "Now me on the other hand, I'm actually planning on talking back to you, or at least I was until I got a better look at that ridiculous armor you guys wear. Seriously, are you guys trying to look like a group that defends the people, or a bunch of wannabe thugs, because the color of your armor alone practically screams the latter. Maybe if you went with something in a shade of red or silver it'd be believable, but that yellowish-green color? Uh-uh."

"You think you're funny or something, wise guy," the PSICOM leader demanded as he moved to hold his gun in Spider-Man's face.

"Funny? Nah, I think I'm hilarious, and I also think you're an idiot," Spider-Man easily quipped.

"Don't you mock me, punk!"

"I can't help it. I mock. I'm a mocker, it's what I do, especially when it comes to anyone who uses the word mock," Spider-Man shrugged. "And if you were to see my business card, you'd find that I'm also an irritator, an annoyer, a puncher, a kicker, and also a distracter. Oh, nice gun by the way. Too bad your gonna lose it in a minute."

Those last few bits of Spidey's ramblings actually caught the PSICOM soldier off-guard completely, and that was exactly what the web-head was going for, because it left him open for when Lightning shoved his weapon down, rammed a hard elbow into his gut, and then spun him into air before knocking him out cold with a hard kick. Since her attack was so unexpected, the other PSICOM soldiers were not quite fast enough to react in an attempt to stop her, and as a result, they were soon either webbed to one of the crystal walls on either side of them, or with their feet webbed to the ground by Spider-Man. A second later, the soldiers who just had their feet webbed to where they had been standing suddenly had their guns swiped away by Spider-Man, while Lightning spun her gunblade back into her hand with a tap of a her boot before she took out the ones that had not been disarmed in a flash. The rose-haired former soldier then made a point of showing how easy that was by simply flipping a hand through her bangs while throwing a challenging smirk at the soldiers that dared them to come at her, which was only mirrored by Spider-Man's dropping into a crouch, ready to leap up and strike at a moment's notice for when they did come.

What no one expected was for Spider-Man to not wait at all, but instead leap right at the nearest PSICOM soldier and deliver a mean right hook to his head, which was soon followed by snapping his arm out to a soldier that was directly on his right. While said soldier was disoriented, Spidey instantly jabbed a punch into his gut, and then delivered a hard spin kick that sent him flying, the momentum of which he used to kick a second soldier into Sazh's line of fire, just in time for the man to shoot him. Spider-Man then leapt into the spun into the air, crossed his arms, and snagged two soldiers with web-lines while he was in mid-air, and when he landed, he immediately pulled them both in so that he could take them both out with a powerful split-kick. Upon landing in a crouch, Spidey fired a pellet of Impact Webbing that ensnared a soldier that was starting to move in on Hope, and then snagged that same soldier with a web-line from his other web shooter so that he could swing the trapped soldier around and into one of his comrades, getting them both stuck in webbing and out of the fight.

"Guess I should've warned you guys earlier, I'm in a bit of a bad mood right now," Spider-Man joked, but it was hard to miss the rather dark tone that he had done so with.

Said tone was quickly picked up on by Lightning, and while she did find it welcoming to see that Spider-Man was taking the fight so seriously, there was just something about his tone at that moment that sent unpleasant chills through her whole body. A quick glance around at the others showed her that they were also unsettled by Spider-Man's sudden change in attitude, but unlike her, they were not able to hide it very well, if at all, as evidenced by the disturbed looks that Snow and Sazh both had on their faces, Vanille's worried expression, and the fact that Hope was scrambling for cover so that he could hug himself out of fear, both from the fighting that was going on at the moment, and Spider-Man's current brutality. Even so, now was not the best time to worry about this, because right now, they had a battle to get out of, and she easily gave a silent reminder of that when she slashed her gunblade through the nearest three soldiers.

"Are any of you planning on fighting, or are you just going to stand there like idiots all day," Lightning asked the members of her group that were not cowering in fear like Hope was at the moment.

That served as all the motivation that they needed to jump in and start helping out, and soon enough, Snow was helping to knocking PSICOM around hard enough to knock them out or set them up for Lightning to eliminate, while Sazh and Vanille were working in tandem to deal with whatever enemies were left from the carnage that was being unleashed by the other three. Hope just looked on for a minute, too scared to really move, but after he spotted a soldier that was looked like he was about to get the drop on Lightning, he immediately jumped up and sent his boomerang flying at the soldier as hard as he could. When the boomerang hit the soldier in the head, he let out a grunt of pain that instantly alerted Lightning to his presence, and it was only a matter of seconds before he was taken out by the rose-haired woman. Lightning then turned to Hope when she saw his weapon return to him, and gave him a small nod of thanks before returning to the fight, drawing a small smile from Hope after she had.

After another few minutes of this, the PSICOM soldiers were either webbed up, unconscious, or dead, while the five l'Cie and Spidey were all still standing, tired but triumphant. None seemed to be more tired than Spider-Man though, because he was panting harder than everyone else, and they all had a pretty good idea why that was. The only problem was, they were all now a little unsure about whether or not it would be safe to approach him right now, given how he had just torn through PSICOM like he had, but still, they had to make sure he was all right. In the end, only Snow was brave enough to approach the web-head, and when he did, the first thing he asked was, "Hey, you doing any better?"

"Yeah, a bit. I really needed that," Spider-Man admitted as he started to regain his breath.

"Can't say I blame you," Snow nodded, glad to see that Spidey seemed to be doing better now, and the two then turned their attention to the others.

"I thought they'd be tougher than that," Sazh admitted as he crouched down over an unconscious soldier while Vanille bowed her head in prayer for the men they had just defeated. "These guys are PSICOM, yeah? Supposed to be cream-of-the-crop."

"Seriously? If these guys are considered to be that good, then I'd say that Cocoon's in a lot more trouble than I originally thought," Spider-Man joked, making everyone smile a little at this sign that he was doing a little better now.

"Well don't judge all of the Sanctum's soldiers based on these guys," Snow warned. "PSICOM's an anti-Pulse task force; haven't fought a war in centuries. Bunch of rookie troops swinging around overpriced toys."

"So, from what you're telling me, it sounds like a regular old soldier has got more training than special forces," Sazh observed, his voice a display of how quickly his confidence was rising.

"Nothing for us l'Cie to be afraid of, especially with our boy Spidey here with us," Snow nodded in prideful confirmation.

"Cut the crap," Lightning interrupted, driving a dagger right into the slight rise in morale when she did. She continued to drive that dagger even deeper when she continued, "Their grunts might be green, but PSICOM's elites are cold-blooded beasts. They hit the field and it's game over."

"Thank you for that, Lightning. I'm sure none of us wanted to add that pleasant thought to our current problems," Spider-Man drawled in sarcasm, while Snow just held a slight glare with her.

As if it was what she had meant to do, Vanille once again cut into the rather tense moment when she said, "Uh-oh! Then let's run away! Ciao!"

"Hey, wait! Come on," Spider-Man and Sazh both cried out, but the young girl was already off and skipping away once again down the nearby crystal path.

"Alright, this is getting ridiculous," Spidey muttered in reference to how Vanille just continued to take off on her own like this with seemingly little regard for her wellbeing.

Sazh on the other hand just caught Chocobo in his hand as it flapped down from his head and started following after her as he tiredly sighed, "What's a man to do?"

Seeing the two take off, Snow instantly started to follow them, until he paused to look back at Lightning, wondering if she was going to follow as well. This time though, Lightning refused to meet his gaze or even look at him, and instead just scowled in the opposite direction. Snow could tell that Lightning was not likely to move any time soon, so he just sighed and raced off after Vanille and Sazh as well, leaving Spidey and Hope to deal with Lightning, a fact that the youngest of the three was not too fond of, given that he was still a somewhat afraid of Lightning. Spider-Man on the other hand, was not about to leave either of the two behind.

"Come on you guys. We've still gotta find Serah and a way out of here, and it's not like we can leave those three to fend for themselves," Spidey told both of his two current companions.

Hope instantly nodded and raced over to follow after the others, making sure that he did not get too far from Spider-Man when he did, and a minute later, Lightning followed as well, albeit at a more subdued pace. She was now well aware what Spider-Man would do if she refused to come with, and she had no intention of being carried again, let alone being carried while he swung through the air like he had before. Though she did make sure she stayed close to the web-swinger, because she had a feeling that she would need to keep a much closer eye on him for a little while.

* * *

The group encountered quite a few different monsters after their run-in with both Madame Web and the PSICOM squad, and every time they did, they tried their best to deal with the creatures quickly. It was not entirely because they did not want to waste much time though. The main reason was because just about every fight they got into after that moment, Spider-Man was almost always the first to jump in and attack using a brutality that was similar if not the exact same as the one he had unleashed earlier, and seeing Spidey fight in that way once had been frightening enough for them all, so they were all determined to do whatever they could to keep from seeing it again. Part of the main way they tried to do this was by trying to make sure they kept him from attacking first, but the only one who ever seemed to succeed at that was Lightning, as evidenced by the fact that she had charged in first every time that Spidey had not, but even so, they were unable to keep him from attacking any enemies they faced completely. Not that they would ever want to of course, but given how he was fighting so differently at the moment, it ended up leaving a bad taste in their mouths for a while.

After they had dealt with one particular fight, Lightning had instantly strolled over to Spider-Man so that she could talk to him directly. "How much longer do you plan to be like this," she bluntly demanded, sparring absolutely no punches right from the start.

"What do you mean," Spider-Man feigned innocently, hoping she would buy it.

Needless to say, Lightning did not buy it for even a second. "Peter, I know how much it probably hurts right now, but you can't just keep lashing out like this," Lightning whispered, mostly because she wanted to make absolutely sure that none of the others could overhear when she said his real name.

"Like you're one to talk," Peter retorted, drawing a glare from Lightning when she heard that. "Oh don't give me that look. A blind man can see that your fighting style has gotten a lot more brutal ever since what happened to Serah, so you have no room to criticize me right now."

"I do when you're scaring everyone around you," Lightning struck back in kind. Seeing as this was getting a little more heated than she had wanted, Lightning took a deep breath to calm her nerves a little and said, "Look, what I mean is that I can understand what you're going through a lot better than the others probably can right now, so if you need to just…talk or something…"

It was plain as day that Lightning was not really very good at this, but Peter still appreciated that she was making a real effort all the same, and he made sure to let her know that. "I get it, Lightning, and I'm grateful, really, but…I just need a little time to really process it, you know?"

That was honestly better than Lightning had been expecting, so she accepted it with a nod after making him promise that he would eventually talk about it when he was ready. Part of her was not sure that he ever would, but the fact that he was going to try to deal with it in a better way than he had been so far did bring Lightning some small comfort at the very least. It was at that moment when they started descending down a small slope, and Snow decided to strike up a conversation with the whole group that had slipped their notices until now.

"Weird, isn't it? Of all the messed up ways to meet…" Snow started. "Might as well have some official introductions. I'm Snow, Snow Villiers."

Everyone stared at the big man for a while, wondering why he would bring that up now of all times, but after thinking about it, they could kind of understand his reasons. While they may have at least an idea about who was who in their group, they had yet to really introduce themselves to each other. If they were going to get through this, they were going to have to trust each other, and that started with properly introducing themselves. Being the first to catch on to this, the shortest and youngest member of the group was the one to speak up next. "Hope. Hope Estheim."

"I'm Vanille," the redhead announced with a smile. She then looked to Lightning and asked, "What about you?"

When Lightning did not answer, Spider-Man did in her place. "She likes to go by Lightning, and all I've ever gotten of her real name is that her last name is Farron. I'm still trying to figure out what her real first name is. I guess by now, you guys all know that I'm Spider-Man, but you can call me Spidey, or Web-Head. Just don't call me late for dinner."

Vanille and Sazh both chuckled a little at Spider-Man's joke, while Hope cracked a small smile, and Snow smirked as he revealed, "Don't sweat it too much, Spidey. You're not alone when it comes to being unaware of what Lightning's real first name is. It's really anybody's guess."

"Which is why I've continued trying to guess it, and will do so until I finally get it," Spider-Man affirmed. "And that just leaves the old man of the group."

Sazh just grunted in playful irritation of being called old and then said, "Sazh Katzroy. Good to meet you."

With all of their introductions now officially given, the group continued on in silence for a while, only speaking when any of them thought they saw something the others should know about, or when they were in the midst of a fight, most of the latter being from Spider-Man. When they finally had a clear break of nothing but their crystal path ahead of them, Vanille raced on ahead with Hope while the other four just watched in mild amusement of how the redhead seemed to have the poor boy wrapped around her finger so easily right now. Seeing the two go off like that drew sigh from Sazh as he commented, "It's not right. Why'd kids have to get dragged into this?"

The other three had to agree with Sazh on that, and as such in an attempt to alleviate some of Sazh's worries, Snow immediately promised, "I'll keep the kids out of trouble."

That seemed to do the trick given that Sazh let out a small laugh, but it turned out that he was mostly laughing at Snow's promise when he said, "Problem with that is, you're one of them."

"Oh, burn," Spider-Man teased while Snow just threw Sazh an indignant look, and Peter could have sworn he saw the corners of Lightning's mouth twitch upward for a second at the older man's remark. A minute later though, Spidey said, "Wait, if Snow's one of the kids, then what does that make me?"

"Eh…I'd say somewhere in between one of the kids and a crazy man," Sazh admitted.

That drew a sigh from Spider-Man as he quietly stated, "All the way in another universe and into a group where I'm most likely the second oldest person in the bunch, and I'm still at least partially considered as a kid. Ah well; I'll take what I can get."

"How old are you, anyway," Snow asked.

"Well, I've been Spider-Man for about ten years of my life, and I started when I was fifteen, so I'm sure you can do the math from there," Spidey admitted.

"Damn. So you're practically in the same situation as them," Sazh noted. This realization reminded him of his earlier grievances, and he was right back to griping again, only this time, it was not about the fact that kids got dragged into the mess they were now in. "Trying to take on the Pulse fal'Cie, that was our first mistake. Should have left it to the Sanctum. Why not? I mean, we've counted on the Sanctum's fal'Cie for food, water, and everything else we've needed since the time we were born."

"So why not leave everything to them, right? Trust me, that kind of thinking doesn't ever result in anything good," Spider-Man commented.

"And besides that, you did still help us fight the Pulse fal'Cie. Why's that? Gotta be something," Snow pointed out.

"There might've been, but I'm not so sure anymore," Sazh admitted.

Snow did not know what to think in response to that, so he just sighed and continued on after the kids along with the old man. Lightning and Spider-Man on the other hand just stood where they were for a minute, staring after Sazh, wondering about what the man's reasons might have been at the time and even now. Spider-Man had a pretty good idea, but he did not want to say anything without being absolutely sure, and neither he or Lightning had any intention to press the man on it, so they decided to just leave it alone for now and carried on after the rest of the group.

After that point, no one really said anything more, aside from Vanille's humming, and they soon found themselves wandering an area that appeared to be monster free. While they were grateful for that, they were a bit unsettled by how much debris there seemed to be around them, because there was no doubt that it had all come from the battle that had been taking place above the lake earlier. Every time they saw a frozen over building or what was left of a transport of some kind, they all found themselves thinking about the people who had been fighting the battles above them, and many of them were instantly becoming worried about what had happened to those people. They managed to put it aside though, because right now, they had bigger, more immediate problems to worry about, and they simply pushed on once they had.

At least, they had put it aside until they ended up walking across a train car that had now become a bridge across a large, deep gap, which Spider-Man instantly noticed something about. "Hey Lightning, Sazh. I think this is part of the train that we had rode in on! How crazy is that, right," Spidey exclaimed, but while Sazh gave a dry chuckle in response to his discovery, Lightning remained silent. When Spider-Man turned to her, he saw that she had frozen where she was while her eyes were fixed on something off in the distance. "Uh Lightning," Spider-Man called out, only to receive no response. "Hello? Earth to Lightning, or Cocoon to Lightning. I'm gonna have to start getting used to that. Hey Lightning, what's with you all of a…"

"Serah," Lightning quietly gasped, surprising Spidey and Snow, who had been standing just behind them.

Upon turning to where the former soldier was looking, both Spider-Man and Snow's eyes widened when they finally spotted the crystallized form of the younger Farron sister was indeed just a short distance away from them, trapped in a number of larger crystals that surrounded her. In an instant, Snow was barreling down the rest of the slope and over to his fiancé, with the others following right behind him. The minute they all reached her, Snow, Sazh, and Vanille instantly grabbed what they could and started trying to dig her out, with Hope standing off to the side, not entirely sure if he would be able to help, partly because there did not seem to be much room left for him around Serah. Spider-Man would have jumped in to help as well, but did not for two reasons: the first of which was because he was worried that if he tried to pull her out with his spider-strength Serah's crystallized form would end up damaged in some way. The other reason though, had actually covered the last bit of the distance between Serah and the train car at much more sedated pace, and was now staring down at her sadly.

When Lightning first saw her sister from up on the train car, she was relieved to see that she had not shattered apart in the fall, but as she got closer, she was only reminded of the fact that Serah was now a crystal, and there was nothing she could do to bring her back from it. When she first saw Serah transform into this state, she had felt completely numb, aside from the anger she felt for Snow's comment afterwards and towards the Pulse fal'Cie for doing this to her sister, but now, it was really setting in for her that her sister was apparently gone, more than likely forever. It was at this moment that she truly felt like she understood what Peter had been feeling when he learned of what had happened to his aunt in his absence, and it was a feeling that she had not felt since her mother had died. This time though, the ugliness of sorrow and anger that was creeping up into her stomach and leaving her throat dry was something that was so much worse than that previous time, and she could hardly bare to face it. In truth though, she did not want to face it, because after thinking about it for a moment, she felt that she was partly to blame for this. If she had made Serah run off the previous day like she did, then there may have been a chance that this would not have happened. Lightning knew it was a bit silly to think that, but she did not know what else to think, and thinking about what was now before her was only worse, so she did the only thing she could think of to do in this situation, but that did not mean that it was probably the best thing for her to do at the moment.

"This is goodbye," Lightning whispered as she looked away, unable to stand the sight of her sister in this state any longer, and she then turned and started to leave.

Lightning's words and actions had not escaped Snow or Spider-Man, but the blonde had been a little quicker to react than Peter had, and that was not a good thing if you were to as the latter. "Lightning, you're just gonna leave her," Snow angrily demanded, unable to believe what appeared to be happening before his eyes.

Lightning stopped in her departure, but did not turn to face Snow or the others when she replied. When she did though, it was clear to Spidey at least that she was doing her best to keep the raw emotions out of her voice. "PSICOM will be here soon. If they find us, we're all dead. You think Serah would want that? You think you know how she feels?"

"If I leave her, then I'll never know," Snow retorted. "We'll be fine. I can handle anything they throw at us, and if I can't, then Spidey will be able to."

"Leave me out of this, please," Spider-Man quietly begged, not wanting to get dragged in unless it was absolutely necessary.

No one seemed to hear him though, as they were all more focused on Snow and his speech to Lightning. "No one will die. I'll protect Serah and Cocoon!"

Lightning did turn around this time, and Spider-Man could not help but flinch a little at the look in her eyes when she did. There was anger in there, yes, but it was not just that. It was unbridled, resentful rage mixed with painful sorrow, but since Lightning was doing so much to suppress the latter, Snow only received the rage, and he received it in full when she marched directly up to him and slammed a hard right hook into his face that sent him tumbling into Sazh, knocking them both to the ground. "Does she look protected to you," Lightning demanded.

Snow must not have realized that anything he could say right now would not help the situation, because he was back on his feet again with a reply to her words alone. "I can save her!"

That earned him another right hook that sent him to the ground. "What can you possibly do?!"

Snow was a bit quicker to start standing up once again, and seeing this caused Lightning to clench her fist in preparation for another punch, but Snow did not let this stop him. "Whatever it takes!"

That caused Lightning to stop in her actions and slowly lower her fist, but that did not stop her from continuing to glare at Snow. This time though, there were a few signs of an uncertainty in her eyes that once again, only Spider-Man seemed to notice, even as he helped Sazh back to his feet before he ended up caught in the crossfire of Lightning and Snow's fight once again. Seeing this caused him to let out a small sigh, even as Snow turned back to trying to dig Serah free, this time with help from Vanille and Hope. "I swear, these two are hopeless," Spidey groaned.

"You can say that again," Sazh nodded, clearly having just realized what the wall-crawler had. "She just can't admit that she wants to stay as much as he does."

Spider-Man nodded in confirmation that Sazh was right, and was about to go over to try and say something to Lightning when his Spider-Sense started tingling. He was immediately looking around in an attempt to spot whatever threat they were about to face now, and when Sazh took notice of this, he started to look around to, wondering what Spidey was trying to find. In the end though, Sazh was the one who spotted the thing that had garnered the attention of Spidey's sixth sense, and he did not like what he saw at all. There, just on the slope that they had previously come down from, was the Warmech that he, Spider-Man, and Lightning had defeated earlier, or at least what was left of it, and it was very clear that the machine was now back to finish what it had started.

"Ah websnappers! Guys, we've got company, and not the friendly kind," Spidey cursed, loudly, drawing everyone's attention over to him, and up to the Warmech.

Seeing the deadly machine fly down towards them prompted everyone to leap into action in one way or another, and they were all soon locked in combat with the Manasvin Warmech once again. Thankfully, the damage it sustained from its previous encounter with Lightning, Spider-Man, and Sazh had left it without its arms, but it still had its tail, and it looked like its main body was still intact, meaning that its cannon was probably still working as well. That did was quickly confirmed when the head opened up and the cannon fired at the area in front of it, forcing everyone to jump out of the way in an attempt to dodge it, which was successful, but just barely. Knowing that it still had such a dangerous weapon at its disposal made it all the more vital that they take the Warmech out quickly, otherwise there was a very real chance that Serah would be destroyed by it. That risk only increased when it started swinging its tail around in a way that shook some crystal stalactites from the ceiling and down on the area around it, and that proved to be the final straw for Spider-Man.

Thinking quickly, Spider-Man jumped into the air, and fired off a web-line to pull him up onto the top of the machine once again, all while making sure to avoid being hit by the attacks that the others were currently throwing out. When he was on top of the Warmech, he fired out another web-line, but this one was not aimed at the machine he was situated on top of, but instead, at a certain weapon that one of his teammates was currently using. "HEY," Lightning shouted when her gunblade was suddenly yanked out of her hand.

"I'm sorry, but I need to borrow this. I'll give it right back when I'm done. Thank you," Spider-Man rapidly shouted all at once as he caught the gunblade in his free hand.

The minute he had the gunblade in his grasp, Spidey spun the sword around between his fingers before bringing it up above his head in both hands and stabbing it straight down into the Warmech beneath him. Once he was sure that it was well into the machine's shell, he pulled it hard enough through the armor that the Warmech's shell was forced to open up, exposing in its interior and its cannon. After extracting the gunblade from where it was and leaping into the air again, Spider-Man aimed his free hand's web shooter and fired off multiple pellets of Impact Webbing, and the webs instantly gummed up the works of the Warmech, keeping it from opening up completely, and ensuring that it was also be unable to close again.

"Hit with everything you've got, NOW," Spider-Man shouted to the others, and they all did just that, seconds later. With its interior exposed, the Warmech had little resistance to the barrage of weapons fire and spells that were now bombarding it, and as a result, it was soon on the verge of being completely destroyed for good. All it needed now was one final shot, and that was something that Lightning delivered after swiping her gunblade back from Spider-Man and switching over to its rifle-mode.

Everyone had ducked their heads down when the Warmech finally blew, and when they looked up again, they were all relieved to see that Serah was still in one piece. Still, that left a few matters unresolved, and Lightning started off by raising her gunblade to Spider-Man's throat, startling everyone. "You ever take my gunblade like that again, and I'll reduce you to the size of an actual spider before stepping on you with the heel of my boot," Lightning angrily hissed at Spider-Man.

"Okay, okay! That is totally cool! I'll be sure to ask first next time," Spider-Man quickly appeased.

Satisfied with that answer, Lightning holstered her gunblade once again, spared her crystallized sister a sad look and then turned to leave once again. At least she was until Snow decided to step right into her path. "You're leaving," Snow demanded, hardly believing that Lightning would leave her own sister behind like this.

Unfortunately, no one appeared to be on his side this time. "Look Snow, we get where you're coming from, and we all want to help Serah too, but without the right tools we could be digging for days. More than that, if we're not careful digging like you have been, we'd risk accidentally fracturing the crystal she's in, and who knows what kind of damage that could do to her," Spider-Man tried to reason.

"Spidey's right, and besides that, the army's on our trail. For now, we've got to keep moving. For now," Sazh added.

Unfortunately, neither of them seemed to be getting through to Snow. "So I just abandon her, and save myself," the blonde demanded.

"No one's saying we should do that, but we can't do anything for Serah if we get captured or worse," Spider-Man immediately tried to placate.

"What about your Focus," Lightning suddenly asked, slightly surprising Snow. "What happened to banding together and saving the world? Isn't that what you promised? Now you want to forget it all and die right here?" Snow said nothing in response to this, drawing a sigh from both Sazh and Spider-Man, while Lightning merely rolled her eyes in disbelief. "Snow, you're nothing but talk."

Hearing Lightning say that really hurt for Snow, because he did want to do as he said he would. The problem was that he could not focus on doing so if he were to leave Serah here in this place. He just could not understand why Lightning was unable to see that. Still, he was determined to make her understand as best as he could. "Lightning," Snow called out. "I'll do whatever it takes. I'll finish this Focus _and_ keep Serah safe. That's my promise."

"Great job so far," Lightning scoffed, and she then headed off without another word. Part of her did want to say that she was just a little grateful for Snow making that promise, but at the moment, she just could not bring herself to say it aloud for a multitude of reasons. Above all though, she just felt that she could not believe anything Snow said at the moment after everything that had happened, and she was just too upset to really care to try.

Seeing Lightning walk away prompted the others to start following after her one by one after exchanging farewells with Snow, who made sure to send them each off with an easy-going smile and wishes of good luck, until only Hope and Spider-Man were left before him. Looking at the boy, Snow was reminded of the promise he had made to Hope, and he said, "Sorry Hope, but I don't think I'll be able to fulfill your promise after all. Guess if you ever want to get even with me, now might be your only chance."

Hope was silent as he stared up at Snow, but eventually he did ask an unexpected question. "Will I make it home if I follow Lightning?"

Snow was not sure if he was understanding correctly, but he responded all the same. "Yeah, if you stick with her, Light'll take care of you, and so long as he sticks around, Spidey will too."

Looking to Spider-Man for confirmation and getting a nod in response, Hope looked back up at Snow and said, "Then in a way, by telling me to stick with Lightning and Spider-Man, you'll still be keeping your promise to my mom, and saving Serah."

That caught both Snow and Spider-Man by surprise, but the former still mulled it over aloud when he said, "Yeah…I guess that could be true…"

"So if that's the case, then just stay alive until we meet again, okay? If you do that, then…" Hope tried to say, but he was not really sure how to finish.

"I get it, so how about we both just save it for next time, kiddo," Snow offered. "We'll definitely meet again with that kind of promise between us."

"Yeah, okay. Count on it, Snow," Hope agreed, and with that, he joined the others in following after Lightning.

With Hope seeming to be well on his way, that just left Spider-Man for Snow to speak with, and there was a few things that Snow wanted to ask him. "You think it's wrong of me to abandon all these promises I've made," Snow asked the masked superhero.

"The way I see it, you're not abandoning anything. You're just taking a different route to get it all done," Spider-Man stated. "Besides, like you said to Hope, we'll meet again soon. All of us."

"Well, here's hoping that we do," Snow nodded. "Just do me a favor and keep an eye on Lightning, okay? I think she really needs a friend like you right now."

"You didn't even have to ask," Spider-Man promised. "Anything else?"

"Actually yeah, there is one other thing," Snow admitted. He paused for a moment, and then asked, "Why do you do all of this? You don't have any reason to stick with us since you're not a l'Cie aside from the fact that PSICOM's after you too, and you obviously don't know anyone else around her, so why help us?"

Spider-Man only paused for a minute before he replied, "Well, because as someone a lot smarter than all of us once said, with great power, comes great responsibility. When you can do the things that I can, but you don't, and then the bad things happen, they happen because of you, at least in some small way. I ignored the responsibility that came my powers once, and it cost me dearly. After that, I had promised to not make that same mistake ever again, no matter what happens, or what others think of me."

Snow never expected a response like that, and he honestly found it to be incredibly admirable of Spider-Man. He still had to give it a few moments before it had fully sunk in for him, and when it had, he nodded in understanding and said, "You know, after hearing that, I kinda wish I was like you, Spidey. At least you seem to know what you really need to do in a mess like this, and you can figure out even with all that's happened."

"Trust me, the last thing you want is to be like me, Snow," Spider-Man joked. "But thanks. I appreciate that. And don't think for a minute that I'm just gonna leave you on your own."

Snow was left confused by that statement, and his confusion only grew when Spider-Man suddenly placed a small, red and blue, spider-shaped device in his hand. "What's this?"

"It's a little tracking device I created known as a Spider-Tracer. With it, I should be able to track you from a pretty great distance. I'm not entirely sure about the range, but I can say that it extends a very great distance out from the middle of Bodhum, and that the only reason I wouldn't be able to pick up a signal from it besides being out of range, would be because it's busted, or you're in a place that's built like a fortress," Spider-Man explained.

"Okay, but why give me one of these things," Snow asked.

"Call it a matter of being cautious. If there's ever a moment when you're in trouble or need help, just tap the center to activate it, and if I can get a signal from it, I'll come swinging over as fast and as soon as I can," Spider-Man explained. "And don't worry about going to any extremes to hide it from anyone. When it's activated, it's able to hide itself thanks to some upgrades I had recently made to it and all my other Spider-Tracers. Oh, and I think you'll be better off if I leave you with one of my spare web shooters. I know you can hold your own with your magic and all, but I'm gonna feel a lot better knowing you've got something that would kinda be considered a weapon in some way."

After Spidey had handed the spare wrist device to him, and Snow immediately smirked in response, before tossing the tracer up in the air and catching it again as he said, "Thanks Spidey. I'll make sure to keep both ready in case I do need 'em. Now get going, or you'll be left behind."

"Ha! Like that'll ever happen," Spidey joked, and a second later, the superhero from another dimension was swinging off to catch up with the others, and Snow was left on his own.

Once Spider-Man was out of sight, Snow glanced down at the device that Spidey had left him, and clenched his hand around it before pocketing it in his jacket as he mentally thanked Spider-Man again for giving it to him. He then walked back over to Serah and set to work once more trying to get her free, determined to carry out his promises no matter what it took, while praying that he would indeed see the others again soon.

* * *

 ** _AN: Well, that all happened._**

 ** _Spider-Man: I'm not okay with this._**

 ** _AN: Why not? There really wasn't anyway that Snow would've gone with you guys and left Serah behind, and besides that, you got to show off your awesomeness in a fight against a PSICOM squad and a final round with the Warmech._**

 ** _Spidey: Oh no, I'm cool with that. I meant the reason why I'm not a l'Cie. Seriously, the reason I'm not a l'Cie is because I'm Spider-Man?_**

 ** _AN: Well when you say it like that...Weren't you paying attention to a word Madame Web said? It's because you have a connection to the Great Web of Life and Destiny that you're not a l'Cie._**

 ** _Lightning: I know we were all paying attention to what she said. Including the part where you revealed that you had killed off his aunt without ever giving her any actual screen time._**

 ** _AN: I know, that was a dick move on my part, but I needed more reasons for Spidey to want to stay in the FF13 universe than just helping you guys with your Focus and, well, you._**

 ** _Lightning &Spidey: We are not a couple!_**

 ** _Snow: Aw look, they're completely in sync!_**

 ** _Serah: I can already hear the wedding bells._**

 ** _Lightning &Spidey: [both blushing and glaring at the other two]_**

 ** _AN: And more to the point, you're not a couple yet. Really, we all know that Spider-Man would've gone back home no matter if he did fall in love with Lightning in this thing if he had something to go home to, and for the longest time, even when he had nothing, he always had Aunt May, so you take that away, and what does he really have left for him back in New York?_**

 ** _Sazh: Apparently some other Spider-Heroes that he's affiliated with._**

 ** _AN: Which we will be going into more detail about later on, along with mentions of some other MARVELs of heroes. Of course, we won't be seeing any of the Avengers, but we will be mentioning them eventually. As for any heroes that are Spiders, well, they'll likely show up by the possible sequel to this story at the latest._**

 ** _Vanille: Speaking of other Spider-Heroes, you seemed to mention quite a few besides Mayday Spider-Girl._**

 ** _AN: Yes, thank you for pointing that out, Vanille. I'm sure some of you can guess who some of those Spider-Heroes were, but in case some of them were unclear, I made a mention of Spider-Men that were from the comics, some of which we had recently seen in Ultimate Spider-Man, the cartoon not the comic, and various versions of Spider-Man from my other stories. Points to whoever can guess which stories those other Spider-Men were from before I decide to make a big reveal about that._**

 ** _On another Spider-Hero-related note, yeah, I went with the Julia Carpenter Madame Web, and yes, there was a Madame Web before her, the one that we all probably know best. I just figured it'd be nice to have it known that both Madame Webs have existed in this Spidey's history instead of just one or the other, so that was pretty fun to do._**

 ** _Hope: Really wasn't expecting to see some history between the Master Weavers and the gods of FF13, if I'm being honest._**

 ** _AN: Well why else do you think Spider-Heroes would be immune to the powers that those guys have? If I just left it at saying that Spidey can't become a l'Cie because he's Spider-Man or because he's got a connection to the Great Web without adding a little history behind it, it would've just seemed like it was thrown in for convenience sake. Anything else that we need to cover? No? Okay then, how about we get Onto the Preview!..._**

 ** _With Snow now left behind with Serah, the others continue their trek across the crystallized Lake Bresha until they finally find a way to fly to safety, for what little good it does them. A rather unpleasant crash-landing places Spidey and the four l'Cie smack in the middle of the Vile Peaks. Can the five survive what's out there, and how is Spidey going to keep everyone together when Lightning's so determined to go it alone while the others can't keep up with her or just don't agree with what she has in mind? Find out how they handle the upcoming trials, next time._**

 ** _Please read and review, swing on back for next time, Merry Christmas, and Happy Holidays, fellow true believers!_**


	7. Runners or Chasers

**_AN: Hey everyone! I'm baaaaaaack!_**

 ** _[uproarous audience applause]_**

 ** _Lightning: About time._**

 ** _Sazh: I gotta agree with Soldier Girl. What took you so long?_**

 ** _AN: I'm sorry, but I was a little occupied with a number of things IRL that kept me incredibly busy. I'm lucky I was able to do any writing at all, and that I was able to update my Kingdom Hearts story, Kingdom Hearts: Dual Keys as often as I could, and I've still got a mountain of other long overdue updates to make, like for..._**

 ** _Spider-Man: Okay, okay, we get the picture! No need to go on a ramble that would make me green with envy._**

 ** _AN: Sorry. Anyways, I've got a review or two I want to answer before we get things rolling, so..._**

 ** _[someone starts banging on the door, startling everyone a bit]_**

 ** _Hope: Who's that?  
_**

 ** _AN: [tiredly sighs] I'll give you three guesses._**

 ** _Spider-Man: Deadpool?_**

 ** _AN: Deadpool._**

 ** _Deadpool: Open up that door!_**

 ** _AN &Spider-Man: Not a chance in hell, crazy man!_**

 ** _Deadpool: [talking to audience] Did ya notice I didn't say Richard? [talking to cast & AN again] Open it up or I'll bust it down!_**

 ** _AN: Uh-uh._**

 ** _Deadpool: [heard backing up before he's heard running for the door] Here I come!  
_**

 ** _AN: [moves the door around the room until it leads out over a ledge and then opens it right when Deadpool is about to break it down]_**

 ** _Deadpool: [realizes he's hanging in midair] Oh no. [starts scrambling for a handhold]_**

 ** _AN: Hey Deadpool, hold this for me real quick? Thanks [drops an anvil into Deadpool's arms.]_**

 ** _Deadpool: [gets sent plummeting down into the abyss below]_**

 ** _AN: Well, with that out of the way, answering reviews. First off, "ademolix" mentioned that an absence of certain FF13 lore from last chapter. Rest assured, that problem is now corrected, along with other errors that were made in the previous chapter, so yeah._**

 ** _Next off, to guest reviewer "Great Saiyaman54", not a bad idea on the suit design. The one Spidey wears isn't likely to get damaged to that point, but I may use that design idea later on, so thanks for that._**

 ** _Oh, and in answer to the question of "seem14". Considering that Snow just got a basic info summary from Peter, there's no way he'd be able to put two and two together on the connection between Peter Parker and Spider-Man. Besides, this is Snow we're talking about. He's not exactly the sharpest tool in the shed._**

 ** _Snow: Hey!_**

 ** _AN: Finally, in regards to everyone who made an attempt to guess which Spider-Heroes made a cameo appearance in the previous chapter. They are as follows:_**

 ** _Peter Parker of Spider-Man Noir, Miguel O'Hara alias Spider-Man 2099, Miles Morales alias the Ultimate Spider-Man, and Mayday Spider-Girl from the comics._**

 ** _And along with them were...Peter Parker Your Friendly Intergalactic Spider-Man from Avenging Normandy, Peter Parker the Sensational Spider-Man alongside Barbara Gordon alias Batgirl and Captain America from Justice Marvel, and the Spectacular Spider-Man (like I really need to say his secret ID at this point) alongside Ava Ayala the White Tiger, Aelita _****_Hopper Schaeffer_** ** _the Angel Guardian, and Ulrich Stern the Sprint Samurai from the Code Avengers Series. All of these previously mentioned titles are some of my own fanfictions, and yeah, I just had to include these Spideys in there._**

 ** _Snow: That's a lot of Spider-Men...or is that Spider-Mans? Which would be the more accurate one?  
_**

 ** _Vanille: I'm pretty sure it's Spider-Men._**

 ** _Fang: Hey! Can we just get on with the story already? This chapter's a long one in case you haven't noticed._**

 ** _AN: What the...?! Fang, what are you doing here? You're not supposed to appear in the story yet!_**

 ** _Fang: So? We all know I'm gonna show up sooner or later, and I don't really like having to wait forever. Unless you've got a problem with me being here. [subtly grips spear]_**

 ** _AN: See now, if I'm not going to be scared of Lightning pointing her gunblade at me, what makes you think I'm going to be scared of you threatening to use your spear on me?_**

 ** _Fang: [thinks for a minute before standing down]_**

 ** _AN: Anyways, I don't really have a problem with you showing up, but I was kinda hoping it would be when we reach a chapter you were actually in before we introduced you in these things, so thanks for ruining that._**

 ** _Fang: Oh like you're really going to not do a big intro thing for me when we reach that chapter anyway._**

 ** _AN:...Okay, fair enough. Anyhow, like the spear-woman from Gran Pulse said, this chapter's a long one, even without this longer than necessary author's note, so let's get a move on already!_**

 _ **I do not own anything from any Spider-Man or Final Fantasy franchises or any other franchise mentioned in this story.**_

* * *

 **Chapter 7: Runners or Chasers**

Things became much quieter after the group had departed from Snow, both for the obvious reason of how the large blonde was not around to shout out a declaration of how they were meant to save Cocoon every five minutes or so, and surprisingly, because they hardly encountered any PSICOM or monsters since. Yes, there was one Alpha Behemoth that they had to deal with along the way, but aside from that, the only real obstacle that the group faced was an apparent dead-end in their path. That was easily resolved though with some help from a downed airship that still had a functioning turret, which Lightning easily activated with a simple swipe of her gunblade, but it also opened up an entry point for a variety of monsters that Spider-Man called frog-fish, simply because they looked like a strange cross between a fish and a frog, especially with how they croaked like the latter animal. The others later informed him that they were called Bloodfang and Breshan Bass, but Spidey insisted that he would likely call them by his choice of name for a long time to come. Of course, dealing with native creatures was pretty much a cinch for the group of newly branded l'Cie and their web-swinging protector, but it was what they saw when they came to a ledge of the ice cliff that allowed them to see something that would be considered very worrisome.

Down in the valley below them, was a massive, golden ship with a number of smaller airships flying around it like they were either patrolling the perimeter of the vessel or just awaiting orders for when they could head out, and coming out of the ship were several legions of PSICOM soldiers. Unlike the ones that they had each encountered before though, these soldiers were clad in armor that was black and dark grey, with some faint purple lining, and they also seemed to be backed up by a few more heavily armed soldiers as well, along with a few humanoid-like drones as well. The one thing that they were all able to note was that they were all clearly gearing up to move out across the crystallized lake, and there was only one reason that any of them could think of for those soldiers to do that.

"They must be hunting down Purge survivors," Sazh finally said aloud, voicing the group's thoughts for them as they all crouched down on the ground to look down over the ledge while doing their best to not be seen.

"Well, I doubt they're getting ready for a nice, friendly game of Laser Tag," Spider-Man quipped in response, earning him a few small looks in response. "Too soon?"

"Yes," Lightning immediately replied before turning back to glare at the PSICOM troops assembling below them.

"I hope everyone made it out okay," Vanille commented, worriedly.

"We all do, Vanille, but from what I've seen of Snow's friends, there's a good chance that a good majority of those people have gotten away by now," Spidey reassured the redhead.

"Maybe, but nowhere is safe for them now," Sazh pointed out. A minute later, he could not stop himself from slapping the ground beneath him as he cursed, "Damn it! Just 'cause they shared a neighborhood with a fal'Cie, they get treated like Pulse-tainted rats."

That comment seemed to bring down Vanille's usually happy mood quite a bit, right to the point that she was even hanging her head in sorrow once she had heard that. After a minute or so, Vanille just had to ask, "People really hate Pulse, don't they?"

"Not _hate_ ; more like _fear_ ," Sazh corrected as he sat up a little. "Tens of millions of people, all scared of Pulse boogeymen. They'd be shaking in their beds every night if they knew that l'Cie like us were around."

"But…they Purged that entire town," Vanille practically cried in disbelief.

"It's crazy, I know, but the Sanctum did nothing to stop it," Sazh pointed out as he looked over the assembling troops below them.

"Considering that the Sanctum is pretty much in charge of all this, I kind of can't help but wonder if they would have stopped it," Spider-Man pointed out.

"They might've," Sazh argued, but it was clear that his argument did not have any conviction behind it. "Up until now, Eden's always stepped in to correct their errors in judgment."

Spider-Man was about to open his mouth to ask about something, but somehow, Lightning predicted his question before he could even get a word out, and informed him, "Eden is a Sanctum fal'Cie that's responsible for the administrations and security of Cocoon, and basically runs all the complex operations that keep Cocoon afloat."

"Got it," Spider-Man nodded in thanks. He then glanced back down at the massive ship below and found himself unable to help but comment, "This whole thing with Pulse and anything related to it just seems a little too familiar for my taste, and not in a good way."

"What, you mean you had something like this happen back in your world," Sazh asked, only to shake his head a little a minute after. He was still getting used to the fact that Spidey was from another universe, and the idea that his world had anything like the Purge or even the people's attitude towards anything regarding Pulse was probably going to be a little much for his tastes.

"Well…kind of," Spider-Man admitted with a small shrug. "You see, a few years ago, Earth found itself being greeted with the fact that mutants do indeed live among us, and just about everybody and their grandmother were freaking out over this fact."

"Mutants," Hope asked, confused as to what Spider-Man meant when he used that term.

"Not people like me who got their powers from a random accident or something, but rather, people who were born with a unique genetic difference in their DNA which could give them powers once they reach a certain age, typically being the age most people are when they hit puberty. This genetic difference is referred to as the X-Gene, and while it does likely exist in everyone, only a select few people ever find themselves with it becoming active enough to give them powers or even to pass it on to a future generation," Spider-Man explained for the boy, and everyone else who seemed to be hanging onto his every word, including Lightning, despite all appearances to the contrary. "It's usually nothing too big, and the person in question keeps their human appearance while gaining some kind of incredible power like telepathy, walking through walls, or even something that would allow them to alter their body in some way at will, but other times, it can be a bit more drastic or even destructive, like being unable to open their eyes without firing off a set of laser beams from them, or suddenly freezing everything and everyone around you uncontrollably, and in some cases, a person with an active X-Gene will have their appearance altered so that they don't look human at all."

"So…they turn into monsters like Cie'th," Vanille asked.

"No…well, not usually," Spider-Man tried to protest, only to back track a little. "For mutants, the abilities and changes they get from their X-Gene are about as random as what color your hair and eyes will be when you're born at best. Still, unlike l'Cie, people are born with the X-Gene, which means they have the potential to gain powers, which could be incredibly destructive to everyone around them, and that scared the crap out of everyone. It was only a matter of time before someone did something stupid by acting out of that fear, and that thing was forming the Mutant Response Division, or the MRD for short. They were supposed to be a government peacekeeping force that was equipped to contain and capture dangerous mutants, but the truth is they were actually just meant to capture every mutant out there, good, bad, or otherwise, and then lock them up forever with no chance of getting out. Nothing but a bunch of thugs who were only following one paranoid, prejudiced jerk's propaganda about how mutants were a threat to normal people, when the fact is that mutants are just as normal as everyone else. They even snatched up a family of non-mutants just because they helped save a mutant."

"Unbelievable," Sazh sighed in sorrow. "So is this whole thing with mutants still going on for your world?"

"Given how long I've been gone, there's a chance that things might be drastically different now, but when I was last there, they had definitely improved a lot," Spidey revealed.

"Good to know that some things like that are improving somewhere, but around here, it looks like humans aren't really worth the effort in the eyes of Eden," Sazh sighed. "Figure they'll let us just kill each other off."

Hope let out a sigh of his own before he stood up and grounded out, "L'Cie are not human."

"Listen you, that's enough," was the rather heated retort that, surprisingly, came from Vanille of all people. When she realized that she had lost her temper like that though, Vanille quickly stepped away so that none of the others could see her face as she attempted to calm down, and once she had, she continued on saying, "We're still alive. That's something."

No one said anything in response to that, but then again, most of them were not sure what to say. Vanille did have a point in saying that their still being alive was something on its own, but it did little to help them with their situation. Thankfully, Spider-Man had some words to voice on the matter. "I know I didn't exactly say the words, but there was a time when a lot of people thought that mutants weren't human either, including a few mutants. The truth was that they were all just scared of what being a mutant really meant. I think the same could be applied here with this whole l'Cie thing."

"That's a pretty optimistic way of thinking. Optimistic and incredibly stupid," Lightning pointed out.

"Hey, better to be a fool who doesn't give up on others than to be a smart person who would abandon them because others say it'd be better that way," Spider-Man shrugged.

Lightning was about to retort when the ground suddenly started to shake beneath their feet, causing everyone to stumble for a bit as they looked around to try and find what was causing this sudden quake. Ultimately, it was Lightning who spotted the source first, and it turned out to be a number of large airships flying overhead, and even rocketing right past where they were all standing in a sweep of the area. When said ships did pass by them, Sazh, Hope, and Vanille were all thrown off their feet by the force of their passing, along with the loud noise of their engines, while Lighting and Spider-Man easily held their ground, the latter much more easily than the former though. When the last ship had passed, Lightning immediately set to work analyzing their flight paths in an attempt to figure out where they were going, and immediately reached a conclusion as to what PSICOM was doing with said airships.

"They're sealing off the area. They're trying to trap the stragglers," Lightning noted with a tone of rushed concern and worry, more so for the others than for her. "We've got to get moving before we're caught in the net."

"You heard the ex-soldier, people. Let's move it out," Spider-Man commanded in a tone that he could only assume was similar to how Captain America sounded when he was shouting out orders. It must have been effective, because the rest of the group was immediately on their feet again and hurrying on down the path so that they could find something that would allow them to escape before they were caught, while Lightning fell into step at the rear, and Spidey himself jumped up to the front so that he could take point.

After that point, the group did not encounter many more monsters, but they did have quite a few run-ins with several different PSICOM soldiers, and given how much better their equipment was, and how much better they were at using it against them, the impromptu team would have to say that these were probably the cold-blooded beasts that Lightning had warned them about not too long ago. Lightning was quick to explain that most of these black and grey clad soldiers were actually PSICOM Trackers, and it seemed that the name was well-deserved, because it took quite a great deal of effort on the group's part to either avoid being noticed by them, or to lose them if they were ever spotted. Not all of the group thought that getting out of a fight was a good move, though that was mostly Lightning, but Spider-Man had insisted that they would be able to get out more quickly and bring a little less heat down on them if they avoided fighting if at all possible, even if that meant they were constantly retreating from a battle. There were times when they did not have any other options but to fight back of course, but those were quite rare, thanks to a little assistance from both Lightning's training and Peter's Spider-Sense, and most of the group was actually thankful for that.

If Spider-Man's fighting style from before was much more brutal than usual, Lightning's was downright murderous now. Ever since they had found Serah in her crystallized state, Lightning's methods of fighting had a distinct edge to it that made her seem like a dangerous, unbeatable killer that even the bravest of beings would run from in fear. To the others, it just seemed like she was blowing off steam from her anger at Snow, but Peter could tell that it was more than that. Lightning was hurting a lot right now, and at the moment, the only outlet she was allowing herself to have was by fighting against whatever was stupid enough to cross her path. He was just glad that there were plenty of enemies around for her to fight at the moment, but he did not want to think about what might happen if they suddenly found themselves with a lack of opponents, because he had a strong feeling that they would have the unfortunate luck of having her turn her anger and battle skills on them at some point.

Peter wanted to talk to Lightning, to say something that would help calm her down and ease her grief a little, but he knew that he would just end up being a massive hypocrite if he did, because while his own fighting style was starting to return to what it normally was, there was no denying that he was being a lot more rough and vicious than he typically was whenever he fought. Sure, he was still throwing out one-liners and quips when he fought, but ever since he had heard Madame Web's news, he was unable to really do so with as much vigor as he normally did, and not only that, but said quips were also very rare at the same time. Still, he knew he had to try and at least seem a little optimistic about things working out for the better, if not for his sake then definitely for that of the others, because they needed someone to help keep their spirits up when their situation appeared to be so hopeless. Knowing this served as all the more reason for another thing he had been doing for some time now.

Ever since they left Snow, Spidey had been stopping now and again to break off pieces of the crystal that was all around them, once he was sure that doing so would not do anything that would impede their progress forward in any way or cause the ground beneath their feet to crumble away, and after looking over some of those pieces of crystal, he would either pocket them or simply use them to discreetly mark their trail in a way that PSICOM would not likely notice, usually by carving a rough rendition of the Spider-Symbol he currently wore on his suit somewhere in the area that only someone in the group would notice. Why he would keep samples of these crystals was really anyone's guess for some time, and it remained that way until Hope felt that he just had to question the web-swinger's reasoning for it.

"Hey, Spider-Man," Hope called out after seeing Spidey break off a piece of crystal and stow it in his belt once again. When the man in question just hummed in acknowledgement to the boy, he immediately questioned, "What exactly are you doing?"

"I'm collecting samples of the crystals," Spider-Man shrugged like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Yeah, I figured that much out. What I meant was why are you doing that," Hope explained, rewording his line of questioning so that he could better explain his confusion.

Spider-Man glanced back to the other three, checking to see if there was a chance any of them could overhear, and he then motioned for Hope to come closer and whispered, "I still think that if I can get to some kind of science lab, I might be able to analyze these crystals and come up with a way to reverse what that fal'Cie had done, both to Serah and to you guys."

"You mean…you really think you might be able to turn us back to normal," Hope asked in awe, nearly shouting when he did, instantly being shushed by Spider-Man a minute later when his voice grew to be a little too loud for Spidey's liking.

Once he had confirmed that the others had not heard them, Spidey looked back to Hope and said, "I'm saying that I have a hunch it's possible, but I don't want to get anyone's hopes up just yet. There's a very real chance that I could be wrong or that I may not be able to find it in time, so keep it quiet for now, okay?"

"Sure," Hope immediately nodded. "But…why do you think you can reverse something that was caused by a fal'Cie's power?"

"Hope, I'm gonna level with you here: I've seen magic at work before, and unlike other scientists, I'm willing to admit that it does exist, but at the same time, I'm not willing to just jump right to the conclusion that whenever something that's considered impossible happens it's automatically because of magic. These new powers that you and the others now have, part of me can't help but think that they may just be the result of the fal'Cie awakening some latent X-Gene inside of you all, even though Madame Web's pretty much confirmed that it is magic that you're all using, but even if everyone says the only way those brands of yours can be removed is with magic, it doesn't mean it's necessarily true," Spider-Man reasoned with the boy.

Hope was not sure what to say to that. Truth be told, part of him was actually hung up on the fact that Spider-Man had somewhat revealed that he was apparently a scientist of some kind, which he probably should have figured out by now since the superhero did say he designed his web shooters himself, but the rest of him was still reeling over the fact that Spidey actually believed it would be possible to restore him and his current fellow l'Cie to normal without needing the help of a fal'Cie. Thinking over what he had just been told, Hope could understand what Spider-Man was getting at when he said that there was a chance that they all had the potential to gain these powers without becoming l'Cie, but still, that did not quite explain why they could gain additional abilities as time went on, so it only made sense that he would eventually admit that magic might have a hand in it. Still, the idea that Spider-Man could find a way to reverse this l'Cie curse was definitely appealing to Hope, so his next question came as little surprise to him and Spidey.

"Do you…Do you think I could do something to help," Hope asked.

Spider-Man looked at Hope for a minute, considering his offer very carefully, before he finally asked, "You saying you're good with biology, genetics, and other similar fields of science?"

"Well, I'm good with figuring out machines, and I've studied a lot of different scientific areas for years now," Hope hesitantly admitted. "My teachers say that I'm one of the brightest kids in my class."

"No way, really," Spidey exclaimed in an excited, child-like manner. "Well, maybe when we finally get to a lab we can use to help with this, there could be a chance that you might be able to lend a hand after all."

Hope just beamed upon hearing this, glad to know that he would likely be able to help out the guy who had done so much for him in such little time at some point in the near future, and it definitely showed a bit more by the fact that there was a little more of a spring in his step as the group continued onwards. From where she was walking, Lightning could not help but allow a small ghost of a smile to form on her lips at seeing Spidey do or say something that gave the rather depressed, scared boy a little more hope and joy in their situation, but she immediately schooled her features before it could go any farther. Still, there was no denying that her admiration of Peter was starting to grow a little more, but it did not quite explain the odd feeling she felt at seeing the man doing his best to keep everyone's spirits up even though his were at an understandable low at the moment.

* * *

About an hour and several defeated PSICOM forces later, the group finally made it out of the crystal caverns and steppes, and into a large structure that Sazh identified as the Gates of Antiquity. The thing was, it was not really just a few large gates, but a massive amount of ruins that Spidey could only assume were once used for some long-forgotten purpose during the earlier days of Cocoon's existence, but at the same time, it looked like they were also being used for something else recently until everything from the Hanging Edge came crashing down into Lake Bresha. Whatever the case, it did not matter, because now, they had to navigate the area while avoiding the PSICOM sweep teams that were in the area. Thankfully, the ruins gave Spider-Man a more suitable area to work with so that he could quickly and quietly take down the PSICOM agents without risk of them letting their comrades know, but the Watchdrones that they had deployed were another matter, which was easily dealt with by the others, so they were able to breathe a little easier now than they could before when trying to sneak past the anti-Pulse task force in order to find a method of escape that they could use.

As they were searching around the area, two things had caught the group's attention. The first of these things being the fact that even the flames that had erupted from sudden explosions and crashes from the Hanging Edge coming down from above had turned to crystal, a fact that Sazh found to be absolutely ridiculous, while Spider-Man found it intriguing as he made sure to collect a few samples of those crystals. Although, that almost paled in comparison to the second thing that they had discovered, and they probably would not have discovered it at all if Spider-Man had not started to get a little bored when they were just walking around the area, and then started singing. _"Spider-Man~, Spider-Man~. Does whatever a spider can~,"_ the web-head sang under his breath, but it was still loud enough to get Sazh's attention.

"Whoa, hold up now. You have a theme tune," Sazh exclaimed in surprise, drawing everyone's attention to the web-head with a variety of expressions. Hope's being intrigue, Vanille's excitement, and Lightning's being nothing more than a raised eyebrow.

"Hm? Oh, yeah," Spider-Man sheepishly admitted, realizing he had been caught singing said tune. "I was…I was really bored one day, and well it just, ya know, popped into my head. Funny thing is, someone actually overheard me singing it one time as I was saving the day, and they then set it to some music before selling it to some big music producer to make a huge profit. Meanwhile, I didn't even see so much as a single penny of that fortune, but the song's just so catchy that I can't hate it too much. Plus, it also gave way for a few other similar songs as well."

No one said a word in response to that explanation, but for just about the rest of their trek, Vanille was constantly pestering him to sing the rest of the tune for them, while Lightning just shot him a glare that told him not to if he wanted to stay in one piece. In the end, Vanille's pleas won out in that argument, mostly because she gave him the sad-puppy-face, and Peter quickly felt an involuntary shiver run up his spine afterwards knowing that he would likely be facing retribution for not heeding Lightning's silent wishes later on. Thankfully, her attention was diverted to something far more important when they stumbled upon another squad of PSICOM soldiers, which included a large mecha that Lightning identified as a Crusader, and Spidey was all too happy to engage the big guy while the others handled the rest. It was a short fight, yes, but it was still enough for Peter to be sure that Lightning had now completely forgotten about what he had done to make her mad.

Afterwards, the group only encountered one or two more sweep teams that were being lead by PSICOM Executioners, leaving the rest of their trek otherwise uneventful aside from the fact that their surroundings only continued to become more and more impressive and awe-inspiring. In fact, were it not for the current circumstances, the entire group probably would have found the incredible sights around them just as exciting as Vanille seemed to, and they likely would have joined in stopping to smell the roses, so to speak. Then again, saying that Vanille was "stopping" would also imply that she actually ceased all movement as she pranced around the large room they had soon found themselves in, which was surrounded by more flaming crystals.

"Stay close," Lightning called after the redhead as she skipped ahead, but it did not seem like she had been heard.

Vanille just danced about for a minute before she called back, "I want to look around."

Lightning just stared after her for a minute before she finally huffed in annoyance at the younger girl's attitude and turned to the guy who was normally the first person to try and get the redhead back on her leash, expecting him to do so once again. When he realized that Lightning's expecting gaze was on him, Spider-Man merely glanced back, shook his head, and said, "Nope. Not this time. At this point, I'm absolutely positive that the only way she's gonna learn anything about why you should not go off like that is if she learns the hard way, so I say, let her."

Lightning would have said something in protest to Spidey's declaration if it were not for two things: first, a part of her actually had to agree with him. He had been doing everything he could to get Vanille to think before running on ahead with little to no concern like this, so maybe it would help if she did learn the hard way. The second reason was actually because it seemed that she already had done so, given the fact that they all heard Vanille screaming in terror a moment later. Turning to where the redhead had gone off to, the group soon spotted Vanille running back towards them as fast as she could, with a massive, birdlike creature hot on her tail, smashing through the crystals and pillars around the area as it came after her. Sazh wasted no time in pulling her behind him and next to Hope the minute that the redhead had reached them before joining Lightning and Spider-Man in readying themselves for action. Once she was next to the silver haired boy, Vanille quickly pulled out her Binding Rod so that she would have it ready in case the others needed her help, while Hope did the same with his boomerang, and like that, the group was entering yet another fight against a massive beast of an enemy.

The first thing to deal with was identifying the creature and its weaknesses, and Hope was the one who took care of that for the group by using an ability that the four l'Cie had discovered after encountering that Alpha Behemoth from earlier: Libra. Using this ability, the group found that they could learn everything they needed to know about an enemy in a matter of seconds, be it the enemy's name, strengths, or even its weaknesses. Unfortunately, not everyone in the group could use it to its full extent, Hope being one of those members, but they were all still able to use it well enough to get some basic information about an enemy. "This thing's called a Garuda Interceptor," the silver haired boy revealed. "It doesn't seem to have any elemental weaknesses though."

"Just because we can't use any elements against it, doesn't mean that they aren't still useful, kid," Lightning informed the boy as she spun her gunblade around in a show of battle readiness. "From what I've heard from soldiers who have fought these things, they don't really hold up well when their hit with a constant barrage of attacks, but they do take that old saying about 'having eyes in the back of your head' to whole new extreme since they literally have an entire head on their backs."

"That's kinda gross," Spider-Man mused, only to let out a yelp of surprise as he just barely managed to flip away from when the Garuda Interceptor swiped at him with one of its wings. Unfortunately, he did not quite notice its tail coming at him as it spun around, and was thus smacked aside by said appendage and into the wall across the room.

Seeing Spider-Man batted aside like that caused something inside of Lightning to instantly snap, and she was soon making a mad charge at the massive, birdlike monster that ended when she leapt into the air and started swiping her gunblade at it in a furious flurry of strikes. When she landed on the ground again, she had not quite taken into account that she would be so close to the beast when it decided to hit back at her, but thankfully, Sazh and Hope were able to give the Garuda second thoughts about doing so when a quick barrage of gunfire and a simple boomerang throw, respectively. These two simultaneous attacks ended up causing the Garuda to stumble a little in its attempt to counterattack, and that gave Lightning an opening to strike it down, which she took without any hesitation. While she was up in the air and attacking it though, she did not quite notice that the beast was starting to spin around in an attempt to shake her off, but thankfully, someone else did, a fact she soon realized when she felt something pull her away before she could be hit.

When she landed on the ground again, Lightning immediately around to see that a strand of webbing was latched onto her back and at the other end of said webbing was Spider-Man, who threw her a lazy salute from where he was perched on the wall before he started firing off a few quick pellets of Impact Webbing in an attempt to slow the beast down. Knowing he had just been knocked out a second ago, Lightning could not quite understand how Spider-Man was back on his feet again so quickly, until she glanced to where he had been before and saw that Vanille was running over from that direction, throwing a few Aero spells at the Garuda as she came, and it all made sense to her. During their trek, Vanille had picked up a very strong ability for using healing magic, but that did not matter to Lightning right now. What mattered was the more important realization she just had: Spider-Man had just saved her life, and knowing the web-head, there was a good chance he was not going to let her live it down any time soon.

"Just so you know, this puts me well ahead of you in regards to big saves of one another. Kinda makes me wonder just how true you're claims on being able to save yourself really is," Spidey called out to Lightning as he leaped off the wall and then fired a web-line to pull himself in for an up-close strike on the Garuda. Apparently, his teasing of her was beginning now.

"Excuse me? I'm pretty sure that I've saved you a lot more times than you've saved me by now," Lightning retorted as she jumped back to her feet and grabbed her gunblade from up off the floor where it had been dropped when she was pulled to safety.

"Oh really? Well, let's count, shall we? First, I saved you from some crooks when we first met, second time was when I prevented you from getting too much off the top from the Warmech when we encountered it on the train, third, when I pushed you and Sazh out of the way before that airship crashed onto the bridge, fourth, during the fight against the fal'Cie, and just now makes five," Spidey easily listed.

"That first one doesn't count! I was about to handle those guys when you decided to jump in and show off. The Warmech fight and when the airship crashed on the bridge I'm willing to give you, but I saved you well before any point you thought you saved me in the fight against the fal'Cie, and shouting for everyone to scatter doesn't count as saving a person's life," Lightning protested.

"Fine, fine. We'll just call it at three to two for now, still in my favor," Spidey conceded as he flipped through the air and let out a spread of web-bullets at the Garuda Interceptor.

"No, it's an even three to three," Lightning argued once again before she jumped back to avoid being hit by the Garuda's wings again.

"How do we both have three saves," Peter instantly questioned as he landed well back from the beast and next to Hope, who was looking between him and Lightning with an incredulous expression. He could hardly believe the two were actually arguing about something like that right now when there was a giant monster trying to kill them.

"The first time for me was when I saved you from bleeding to death because the serious injuries you had when we first met, the fight with the fal'Cie, and finally, when I saved you from yourself earlier. Remember, when you were fighting enemies like you barely cared whether or not they lived or died," Lightning easily listed, even as she changed her gunblade into rifle mode so she could shoot the Garuda while simultaneously casting a few Thunder spells as well.

Spider-Man had to admit that Lightning did have something of a point on that last one, which was why he was counting it as a save for her, but he was not going to let her count that first one. Before he could say anything though, Sazh cut in by shouting, "Are you two seriously doing this right now?! We're fighting for our lives here, and you're arguing over which of you has saved the other the most or how many times?!"

"Considering that she's so sensitive about being saved at all, and the fact that I've now saved her so many times, yeah, we are doing this right now," Spidey easily quipped. "Besides, it's not like we're doing it during some really serious battle where some innocent bystander could get hurt."

"Uh, don't any of us count as innocent bystanders," Hope asked as he gestured between himself, Vanille, and Sazh.

"No. You're fighting with us, and you have l'Cie powers, so you're not bystanders," Lightning immediately retorted as she flipped her gunblade back into sword mode, ready to launch another strike. She never got the chance to launch it though, because the Garuda Interceptor suddenly turned around, roared at them out from its back mouth, and then smashed through the crystals that were blocking the path forward.

"Uh…did we just scare it away," Spidey asked. His question was answered quickly enough when the Garuda Interceptor circled back around and began building up an extensive amount of electricity around its body as its wings folded in over itself.

"No, it's charging up," Lightning corrected.

"Charging? What're you talking about? Charging for what," Sazh rapidly questioned, not liking the sound of what Lightning was implying, nor what it looked like the beast was doing.

"It's last moments," Lightning confidently replied as she prepared to charge forward, only to be stopped when Spider-Man suddenly grabbed her arm to prevent her from heading forward.

"If you're saying that it's planning on making some kind of kamikaze move then I don't think charging in recklessly is the way to go here," the web-head cautioned. He then turned to Sazh and Hope and asked, "Do you either of you think you can hit it from here and take it out in one shot?"

"Even if I could, I don't think my guns pack enough punch to finish it that easily," Sazh immediately denied.

"I'm pretty sure that I don't have enough strength to throw my boomerang that far and give it the same kind of power to deal that kind of damage," Hope added.

"Don't your web shooters have some other new tricks to them that could help," Lightning asked Spidey.

"Sorry, but unfortunately, I wasn't able to start working on any of the ideas for more offensive capabilities in my web shooters before this whole mess started. The most I've got is the Impact Webbing and stronger web bullets, and even if one of those could finish it in one blow, it's a little out of my range from here," Spidey immediately denied. He then glanced at the pillars on either side of the path forward, to Lightning, to the beast once again, and repeated this pattern until he finally came up with what could possibly be a crazy idea that would get Lightning really mad at him if it did not work, or if she did not like it. "Then again, it might not be out of web slingshot range."

"What're you planning," Vanille asked.

"Lightning, if I can get you close to it fast enough, do you think you could finish it in one blow," Spidey asked.

Lightning just scoffed in response and said, "I'm offended you even need to ask."

"All right then," Spidey said as he flipped back and fired a pair of web-lines at the two pillars. Once they had latched on, he started pulling them back as far as he could and then motioned Lightning over with his head, indicating that he wanted her to stand in front of him as he tied the two web-lines together.

Watching him do this allowed Lightning to easily figure out what he was doing, and she had to admit, that it was not too bad of an idea, so she immediately made her way over to stand in front of him, practically loading herself into the his slingshot once she was in front of him. "You sure this is going to work," she asked as she slightly tightened her grip on her gunblade.

"Oh yeah. I do this all the time. You just worry about making the kill shot, and leave getting you over to the thing to me," Spidey reassured her. "Now, you ready?"

Lightning rested her back against the webs, surprised to find that they did not feel as sticky as they normally were, and nodded to Spider-Man to signal that she was. "On three?"

"Yep," Spider-Man confirmed, and he then started counting. "One…"

"Two…" Lightning breathed simultaneously.

"THREE," the two shouted together, and a second later, Spider-Man had released his hold on the webs, and Lightning was sent sailing through the air at a speed that she could have sworn matched that of a speeding airbike. She did not let that distract her though, but instead, readied her gunblade to strike, and when she was in range of the Garuda Interceptor, she stabbed her blade right into the monster's neck. Bringing her feet forward to give her some leverage, Lightning pushed herself off the beast, swinging her gunblade to the side in a way that would sever the Garuda's head as she did, and then dropped to the ground, where she instantly converted her gunblade into rifle mode so that she could fire a few rounds on the monster a second later. A quick Thunder spell was all that Lightning needed to finish her handiwork, and a second later, the Garuda Interceptor exploded in a brilliant blaze of glory, while Lightning just spun her gunblade back into its holster as she walked away from the explosion's source.

 _'Okay, suddenly I can't help but feel like she suddenly became a mix of Black Widow and Iron Man there with the way she's walking away from the explosion all epically like that,'_ Spidey thought as he watched Lightning step away from where her recent opponent previously was, while he and the others ran up to meet her halfway.

Vanille's light jog over to Lightning suddenly broke into a sprint when she noticed something behind the soldier, and when she felt the questioning eyes of the others on her, she immediately spun back to them and pointed ahead of her as she excitedly shouted, "Check it out!"

Looking to where Vanille was pointing, the group could only gape in awe at the sight of an abandoned, slightly damaged airship just sitting around waiting for someone to come along and take it, and they all knew in that instant that they had just found a fast-pass out of Lake Bresha, and hopefully to somewhere outside of the net that PSICOM had cast over the place. They were not all quite as enthusiastic about it as Vanille clearly was, given that there was no telling what state the ship was in, but they were still at least optimistic enough to know that there was a chance that it could be working just enough to fly them to safety.

"This will make things easier," Vanille clapped happily as she looked the damaged ship over, seeing nothing wrong with it from her unprofessional viewpoint.

"Yeah, but knowing our luck, it's probably missing an engine," Sazh pointed out.

That brought Vanille's mood down a bit, and she was quick to scold the old man on his pessimism. "You shouldn't be so negative."

"And you shouldn't get your hopes up," Sazh easily retorted as he walked around to better inspect the ship, since he was already planning on piloting it if they were going to use it to get out of there.

Vanille's slight growl at Sazh's remark went mostly unacknowledged, but that was mostly due to a question that came from someone none of them had expected it to come from. "Wait, we're not seriously going to try and fly this… _thing_ out of here, are we," Spider-Man nervously asked. "This very damaged airship that, like Sazh said, is probably missing an engine, or maybe even proper shielding, weapons, landing gear, and may even be liable to fall apart on us while in midair," Spider-Man nervously asked.

"Well it's better than just walking around aimlessly like we've been doing," Sazh pointed out as he scanned the ship. When he finally realized who asked the question, he paused in his examination and then turned to the wall-crawler along with the others. "Uh…why do you ask, Spidey?"

"Oh, no reason," Spider-Man quickly replied, doing his best to keep his voice from hitching at all as he fidgeted in place a little. "I mean, I'm just saying that if we were going to fly out of here, maybe we should at least, get something that's a little more…intact, than this thing seems to be. Or we could just keep looking for some kind of secret passageway to the surface that PSICOM likely doesn't know about, or something."

"Are…are you scared of flying, Spider-Man," Hope asked.

"What? No," Spider-Man instantly replied, not realizing until after the fact that his voice had squeaked a little until after he had spoken. He quickly cleared his throat again before repeating, "No! I'm Spider-Man, remember? I fly through the air via web-swinging all the time. I just…W-what I mean is…"

"Just admit that you're scared of flying and get it over with already," Lightning ordered.

"I'm not scared of flying! I just have a…" Spider-Man said, only to trail off into a barely audible mumble at the end of his sentence.

"Beg your pardon," Sazh asked.

"I said I have a slight…"

"What," Hope asked.

This time, Spider-Man let out a reluctant sigh and finally admitted, "I have a slight fear of planes, okay?"

That surprised everyone in the group, except Lighting, but only because she had a pretty good idea on what his fear originated from. Still, the others did not know such information, and that was why Vanille innocently asked, "Why's that?"

"Because…when I was a kid, my parents died in a plane accident," Spider-Man revealed.

"Look, I understand that, Spider-Man, we all do, but right now, this may be our best chance of getting out of here without having to fight our way through several hundred PSICOM Trackers," Lightning pointed out. "Besides, it's not like we're just going to take off before making absolutely sure that it's able to fly and stay in one piece."

Spider-Man could see Lightning's point there, so in the end, he accepted defeat in this regard with a small nod, and let Sazh continue on with what he was doing before, with some help from the others. Peter himself just remained standing off to the side, since he did not want to get in the way of the guys who actually knew what they were doing here, and a second later, Lightning was resting against the wall next to him and watching as well, but only to rest a little after the battle that they had just fought. The area was cleared out of soldiers, so there was no reason to be on high-alert at the moment. At least she thought there was no reason to worry, until Spider-Man suddenly seemed to tense up a little and start glancing around the area in a way that the others would not have been able to notice, even if they were looking right at him.

"What is it, Peter," Lightning quietly asked.

"I'm not sure," Peter slowly replied just as quietly. "I thought my Spider-Sense was tingling a little for a second there, like it was trying to warn me of something, but then it just went silent."

"Do you know what it was trying to tell you," Lightning pressed, knowing that they could not be too careful at the moment.

Peter thought about it for a moment before he finally said, "I think…I think it was trying to tell me we were being watched, but it was barely that much of a buzz that I almost didn't notice at all. Either that, or it's just my nerves acting up from the adrenaline rush of that last fight."

"…Maybe," Lightning hummed in thought. Given how accurate Peter's sixth sense had appeared to be up until now, she was not sure they should just dismiss any feelings it gave him so quickly, but the fight they had just been in had been pretty rough, so his theory was plausible. In the end, she decided that Peter was right to think it was just his imagination and then returned to her previous relaxed state, but not before she cast a small, unsure glance back down the path they had previously been traveling.

Peter had a good idea what Lightning was thinking when she did that, and quickly placed a hand on her shoulder in reassurance as he said, "I'm sure he's all right, and that he's keeping Serah safe from whatever may have come their way by now. Like you've said, Snow's too stubborn to go down easily, and even as a crystal, your sister's just as tough."

Lightning did not know why her face felt a little hot from having Peter do and say all of that, and as a result, she immediately turned away from him in an attempt to hide her flustered state. Even so, she had to mutter a small word of thanks for his concerns, even if she felt that they were not needed before she started silently begging for Sazh to hurry up so that they could get going again. At least if they were moving somewhere, she would be distracted from any strange thoughts or feelings that were bubbling up inside of her.

* * *

It took a while to get the airship to the point where it could safely fly the group out of Lake Bresha, but after some hard work that was checked over multiple times by Sazh and Lightning, the vehicle was ready to fly, and they wasted no time climbing aboard and taking off, during the latter of which, Spider-Man must have said at least a dozen silent prayers that they would get through safely. Take-off was not quite all that easy; in point of fact, it was actually very rough, but thankfully very fast. Just not fast enough to escape PSICOM's notice, as evidenced by the fact that a number of ships were quick to converge on their position from behind, and the ships that were hovering above their exit had opened fire on them the minute they were in range. This had lead to Lightning fighting Sazh for control of the ship momentarily, and while it did allow them to blast one ship out of the air and give them an opening to slip past the blockade of ships in front of them, it also made their ride a lot less smooth than it could have been even while they were being shot at. Thankfully, Sazh was able to get Lightning to back off, somehow, and managed to handle the rest of the flying from there, the shouts of panic from the rest of his passengers being little more than background noise to him as he flew.

Losing the pursing ships was not an easy task, even for a seasoned pilot like Sazh, and it was not until after they had safely flown out into the skies well above Lake Bresha that the afro-haired man was able to start thinking of some plans on how to lose their pursuers. It actually came as a surprise at first that PSICOM would actually continue to chase them even after they had flown out into the open skies, but Sazh somehow managed to shake off his shock and use the surroundings to his advantage, even as they continued to rapidly change. He would bank left and right, bring them down into sharp dives, and even braved a flight through a ravine, until he finally used the ships guns to cause a small rockslide that crushed the lead ships while preventing the others from following much further, giving them a chance to sail off into the air once again, and then start cruising at a more sedated pace in which they could catch their breathes, despite the fact that they did take a few hits in the process.

The entire time Sazh had been doing his little bit of evasive flying, Spider-Man had been griping the armrests of his seat like his life depended on it, jumping a little every time he heard an explosion that sounded just a little too close to them, so when they finally reached a more peaceful airspace, no one was surprised when he let out a loud, long sigh of relief. "Sazh, I have to ask, did you take piloting lessons from this universe's version of Star-Lord and Rocket," Peter asked afterwards.

"Well, considering that I've never heard of either of those two until now, no I didn't," Sazh easily replied, with Chocobo cheeping in what sounded like confirmation of the fact as he worked the controls of the jet in an attempt to get some kind of newsfeed going so that they could know what to expect in their near future and stabilize their slightly rocky flight path.

"Who are they, anyway," Hope asked as Sazh finally managed to level the ship out.

"A couple of guys who are part of a team of heroes that work in outer space and keep the galaxy safe," Spidey easily answered. "The group call themselves the Guardians of the Galaxy."

There was silence following that response until Lightning finally said, "If it were coming from anyone else, I'd have a hard time believing that."

"I'll take that as a compliment, Dinah," Spider-Man smartly informed her.

"Not even close," Lightning easily retorted, her tone was rather half-hearted, making Peter wonder if it was because his attempts to guess her name were starting to wear on her, or if it was because of everything that happened today.

All thoughts on that and every other matter were soon set aside when the newsfeed began running, allowing everyone to hear what the Sanctum had to say on what had just happened, and not one of them were entertaining thoughts of it being very factual. _"Next, an update on the status of the Purge,"_ the woman on the screen reported. _"Just moments ago, the Sanctum announced the successful conclusion of the Purge, along with the safe arrival of the Cocoon migrants to their new homes on Pulse."_

Everyone had a variety of disbelieving or irritated reactions to that, because that line alone pretty much told them what the theme of the entire report was, but they still continued to watch, especially when a man in ornate gold and white robes with a blue shawl crossing his chest, and a headdress that had a transparent veil extending down over his head appeared on the screen. Given this man's attire, it was pretty clear to Peter that said individual was likely very important, but at the same time, he also gave off a vibe that Peter could only associate with the likes of Senator Robert Kelly. _"Yes, that is correct,"_ the ornately dressed man nodded with a regal tone. _"There's no denying the enormity of the strain the Purge placed on us all, but given the tens of millions of lives at stake, there truly was no alternative."_

 _"Primarch Dysley stood by the move, stressing the necessity of the relocation,"_ a male reporter stated as the image of the regal-looking man shrank down to allow the news room to be displayed once again. _"When asked about the possibility of future Purges, the Primarch remained noncommittal, stating only that he'd seek counsel with the fal'Cie Eden and weigh all options before making a decision."_

"Yeah, that's right. If it makes the Sanctum look bad, it never happened," Sazh grumbled as he attempted to mute the broadcast.

His attempts failed, as Vanille was quick to return it to its normal setting, allowing everyone to continue listening as it continued, and the more they heard, the less they liked. Even Peter began to find what he was hearing disgusting as he narrowed his eyes behind his mask with every sentence that passed in the report. _"In all the centuries since the War of Transgression, Cocoon has been spared Pulse aggression, and prospered for it,"_ the Primarch had continued. _"It is essential that we maintain this peace. That is the Sanctum's focus. We will continue employing every resource available to combat these threats to the harmony of our society."_

"Meaning, we'll be running for the rest of our lives," Sazh translated, unnecessarily.

"Hey," Vanille suddenly called out, getting the old man's attention. "Umm, who is this guy?"

Sazh's head drooped heavily at that question while he let out a long, tired sigh while he grumbled, "I mean, what do they teach kids these days?"

"To be fair, if she hadn't asked, I would've," Spidey revealed in the redhead's defense. Though he did find it a little strange that Vanille did not know something about the man in question, given how important he looked, and that the girl seemed to be at the age where she was at least aware of these things.

"Well, you have an excuse since you're from another planet," Sazh pointed out.

"Dimension. Although, technically, I guess it could be argued that I'm from another planet as well, but…"

"Whatever," Sazh interrupted before Spidey got too far along in his ramble. He then took a deep breath to calm his nerves and finally answered Vanille's question. "He's Galenth Dysley, the Sanctum Primarch…Murderer-in-chief."

"Just another tool of the fal'Cie," Lightning muttered with narrowing eyes, gaining her a concerned look from Peter when he heard her.

He made a mental note to worry about Lightning's sudden attitude to her world's leader later, and instead commented, "Suddenly, I'm not sure if it would be more appropriate to compare this Dysley guy to Robert Kelly or J. Jonah Jameson."

"Who're those guys," Hope asked, eager to learn a little more about Spider-Man's original home if he could.

"Well, Kelly is a senator from my home country, the USA, and is probably the biggest, most bigoted individual you'll ever meet, seeing as he's a major figurehead in the anti-mutant camp. He's also the one who started up things like the MRD and the Sentinel Project. Don't ask about the latter. J. Jonah Jameson, on the other hand is the publisher of one of the biggest news sources back home, the Daily Bugle, and he's been running a smear campaign against yours truly ever since I first showed up on the crime-fighting scene."

"Why would he want to run a smear campaign against you," Vanille asked.

"Heck if I know," Spidey shrugged. "I'm just glad he doesn't exist here, because I guarantee you that if he did, he'd probably try to blame everything that happened regarding the Purge on me. I can just hear it now." At that point, Spidey deepened his voice to the point where he was giving one of his best impressions of his old boss. "This whole thing is that masked menace, Spider-Man's fault! He was probably some sort of Pulse advance scout acting under the orders of that fal'Cie, and trying to earn our trust by masquerading as a crime fighter! I knew all along that he couldn't be trusted, but I never dreamed he would go this far, just like I've never once thought that my lousy Hitler-like look was lame!"

Vanille could not help but laugh a little at Spidey's impression, while Hope gave a half-hearted chuckle, but Lightning and Sazh on the other hand threw the wall-crawler sympathetic looks that showed they were sorry that he had to put up with someone like that for so many years. He waved their concerns off though, as he had long gotten over Jameson's wild accusations and rants, but more than that, it was also because of the next thing that they heard in the news report. _"In other news, according to various rumors, it is believed that the Bodhum vigilante known only as Spider-Man had appeared in an attempt to interfere with the Purge. The reasons for why this strange, masked man would do so are still unknown at this time, though again, many of these reports are still simply rumors. When asked for comment on the matter, Primarch Dysley had this to say."_

"Here we go," Spider-Man sighed in resignation. "Just watch; this is going to be the part where I'm labeled a threat or a menace to society."

 _"Details and information regarding this 'Spider-Man' are still of great speculation, though various PSICOM soldiers had reported an individual matching his description had appeared before them in an attempt to stop what was supposed to be a peaceful, civilized operation. Though he was subdued momentarily, he had somehow managed to escape from custody. Therefore, I am advising all citizens to consider both this individual and anyone affiliated with him as a serious threat to Cocoon, which should be reported to the Sanctum the moment he is sighted,"_ Dysley revealed.

"Yep. Called it. Once again, even when I'm in a whole different universe, I'm still, somehow labeled as a danger to society," Spider-Man sighed once again.

 _"Despite the Primarch's words, some cannot help but wonder if Spider-Man truly even exists, while a few are skeptical over whether or not he had interfered at all. Until further notice though, Spider-Man is now considered a dangerous individual, one that should be approached with caution, and is to be considered armed and very dangerous,"_ the male reporter added on.

"Armed with what? Spidey doesn't even carry any weapons," Hope protested.

"Let it go, Hope. For one thing, some people would probably argue that my web shooters count as weapons, even though they don't really have much in the way of offensive capabilities beyond restraining a target, and for another thing, this will likely only last for as long as our situation does. Besides, I'm used to this kind of treatment," Spider-Man told the boy.

"It's still not fair," Vanille argued, agreeing with Hope in his opinion.

"I know, but it doesn't matter what others say. What matters is what I choose to do, because the truth will always come out in the end one way or another," Spidey told the kids.

That drove a contemplative silence over everyone, which was only disturbed by the continuing news report. When they made a mention of how several people were voicing approvals of both the Purge itself and how they would support future Purges if the need arose, however, they all dropped their contemplative moment in favor of just glaring at the holo-screens before them. "Let's Purge everybody. That'll fix it," Sazh ranted in full sarcasm. He then turned back to the web-head for a moment and asked, "Hey Spidey, remember how you said that the problem with mutants back your universe had improved?"

"Yeah," the web-swinger nodded.

"What did it take for people to start seeing sense on that," Sazh asked.

Peter could see what Sazh was trying to learn by asking this. The old man was hoping that something that was involved with changing people's opinions of mutants back in his universe could be applied to their situation here. Sadly, Spidey was not so sure that they could really apply anything that had happened to their case here, and his reply conveyed why he believed that. "Well for one thing, there's the fact that a group of mutant heroes known as the X-Men had saved the world a few times, and there's also the matter about how their founder, Professor Charles Xavier, founder of the Xavier Institute for Gifted Youngsters and the most powerful mutant telepath in the world, never once wavered in his belief that humans and mutants could live together in peace. Of course, the fact that a few members of the Avengers are also mutants probably doesn't hurt either."

Sazh just let out a sigh of dismay, as he could see why Spidey would not think that those routes would be open to them at the moment. Sure, Snow had believed that banding together to save Cocoon from Ragnarok was their Focus, but given how their group seemed to be at the moment, both in regards to what they were all having to do, and how vastly incompatible most of them were with one another, there was not a very likely chance that they would be doing anything like saving the world to change people's opinions of them or Pulse. Add in the fact that the people of Cocoon had long since hated anything related to Pulse, and it was even more unlikely that they were going to be changing anyone's minds so easily with actions or words any time soon. Sazh was soon distracted from coming up with ideas to help get the Sanctum off their backs when the ship's alarms began sounding, and he immediately looked back to Spider-Man once again.

"Please tell me that your Insect-Early-Warning-Sense isn't going off right now and that the ship's alarms are just glitching on us," Sazh begged the web-head.

"First off, spiders are arachnids, and furthermore, it's called my Spider-Sense, and second, I wish I could tell you that it wasn't tingling, Sazh. I really do," Spidey replied. This revelation was further punctuated when the ship was hit once again by a shot from behind, and Sazh was immediately checking the scanners to see that a squad of airships was indeed chasing after them.

"Points for perseverance," Sazh muttered as he started steering the ship away from any enemy fire.

"Less talking, more evasive maneuvers, Mister Sulu," Spidey told the old man.

"Who's Sulu," Sazh asked.

"Who's…Oh, never mind! Just fly the ship," Spider-Man snapped.

Sazh did as requested, but was soon forced to shield his eyes like the others when he suddenly started steering them towards the sun. When the light died down to a point that they could see normally again though, they all soon saw that they were not flying towards the sun, but instead, a massive structure that was generating light from a large sphere, drawing gasps of awe from both Vanille and Spider-Man, while Hope looked on in a more silent awe, and Lightning kept her outwards expression as neutral as ever. "A Sanctum fal'Cie up close and personal. Cocoon's own light in the sky," Sazh breathed in awe, identifying the object before them as he did.

The group was not really able to enjoy this incredible sight for very long though, as they were suddenly jarred back into the matter at hand when the ship was hit by enemy fire, prompting Sazh to return to doing his best to dodge said gunfire. Glancing at the fal'Cie before them and taking note of their situation, Lightning did not hesitate for a minute in shouting, "Fly in! We'll lose them in there."

Sazh just nodded before he did as suggested, and flew the ship right into the collection of bright energy streams at top speed. As predicted, the enemy ships tried to chase after them, but the pilots of those ships did not seem to have the same level of skill as Sazh, and were quickly forced to slow down in an attempt to avoid the energy streams. One of them was not so lucky in evading the streams, and soon exploded upon making contact with it, drawing a laugh of relief from Sazh when he saw the smoke afterwards. Still, it did not help to get rid of the remaining enemies quite as easily, but they were still driven away from the group's ship as they continued to fly through the fal'Cie's generated energy streams of light. It was not quite far enough away though, as they were still close enough to fire on them, and eventually, someone managed to get a lucky shot in that instantly sent the group's airship careening downwards to the ground, uncontrollably.

Realizing that they were going to be in for a serious crash-landing, Spider-Man reacted on pure instinct and fired as much webbing at Sazh, Hope, and Vanille as he could, hoping that his webs would act as extra protection when they finally reached the ground. When he was about to fire a few webs onto Lightning though, his web-shooters both just fizzled, indicating that his current cartridges were both empty, much to his horror. Knowing that he would not be able to reload in time, he did the only thing he could think and just jumped over to her in an attempt to shield the rosette woman with his own body. After he was sure that he was in a secure position, he snapped his eyes shut, and waited for the incoming crash, while doing his best to not panic out of his mind and ignore the screams of the others as they all panicked over their far-too-fast descent to the ground below.

* * *

Lightning was not sure what happened. All she could remember was that the airship they were flying in had been shot down, Spider-Man had started wrapping everyone up in protective cocoons of his webbing and then jumped on top of her for some reason, and after that, she had blacked out. Whether it was because she had hit her head at some point during their descent, or because of something else, she did not really know, all that mattered was figuring out why, despite the fact that she was pretty sure that they had all come crashing down in a rough landing, she was feeling so comfortable and warm at the moment. She knew that she should be feeling some kind of shrapnel or sharp metal somewhere close to her after the ship had crashed, or that she should be feeling the cold, hard ground beneath her along the exposed skin of her arms and legs, but for some reason, she did not feel either of those things. Instead, there was just an odd, warm, and comforting feeling enveloping her whole body, and despite the fact that what she was lying down on was rather firm, it still felt as comfortable as her own bed, if not more so. It really made her want to just snuggle up and sleep all her problems away, but she knew that now was not the time for such actions, so she reluctantly started rise up as she slowly forced herself awake, shaking the cobwebs out of her head as she sat up. When she was at least up on her elbows though, she finally discovered why she did not feel the ground beneath her, and quickly froze with a look of slight panic on her face when she did.

There, lying beneath her, with his costume covered in dirt, yet still slowly repairing the small tears it had received from the crash landing, and one arm still wrapped around her, was none other than Peter, and given how slow and steady his breathing was at the moment, Lightning had to guess that he was probably still unconscious. The next thing that registered for her was the fact that she was actually close enough to him to be able to almost see his eyes through the lenses of his mask. Of course, his eyes were closed at the moment, but part of Lightning could not help but imagine the deep brown, passionate eyes that hid behind both his mask and his eyelids at the moment. When she realized that this daydream was starting to form, Lightning quickly jumped back with a start, like she had just been burned by something, and in her hurry to get away, she did not pay attention to where she was moving, and ended up making Peter wake up when her knee suddenly jabbed into the one weak point of all men.

"AHHH! For real?! Right in the nuts," Peter painfully groaned as he sat up, while Lightning did her best to sit up straight and look at least a little composed at the moment in the hopes of not giving away what had just happened in any possible way. When he finally managed to stop writhing in pain, Spidey threw his gaze towards the offending rosette and asked, "What was that for?"

"Sorry, it's not like I had intended to do it," Lightning instantly snapped in retort, only to turn away a second later, feeling slightly guilty for snapping at him when he had likely just saved her life. "We should check on the others," she then quickly stated, hoping to change the topic.

"Yeah, all right," Peter agreed, only to remember what had happened before he had blacked out as well. "Wait, are you okay, though?! I mean, I know was able to make sure the others were safe by wrapping them up in my webs, but I had to shield you myself, so…"

"I'm fine," Lightning interrupted, halting Peter's small panic attack, though a part of her did gain a strange feeling at how concerned he was over her wellbeing at the moment.

Peter nodded uncertainly in response, since he was not sure if Lightning was being completely honest with him, but at the same time, he had to wonder why he was making such a big deal about whether or not Lightning was okay when they needed to check on the others first. Sure, he had not managed to get her into a web-cocoon like he had the others, and he had to shield her with his own body, but it's not like it was the first time he had to protect someone in such a way, so there was no real reason to be getting so worked up, right? It was at that moment that Peter took note of Lightning's face, or at least as much of it as he could since she seemed dead-set on keeping him from seeing it at the moment, and saw something that perked his concern. "Are you sure you're okay, Lightning," Peter asked. "Your face looks kind of red."

"Y-yes! Yes, I'm fine. It's probably just the heat from the flames," Lightning instantly reasoned, not quite managing to keep the stutter completely out of her voice, even as she gestured to the remains of the airship before moving to check on Hope, who had long since come free from the webs that he had been wrapped in along with the others. When she remembered that little detail, she instantly turned to Peter, who was checking on Sazh and Vanille and asked, "So why didn't you try to use your webs to protect me and yourself like you did the others?"

"I tried to, but by the time I had finished with the others, I had run out of web fluid," Peter revealed as he stood up and opened up his web-shooters so that he could remove the empty cartridges. "Honestly, I'm surprised they lasted as long as they have, because I was really expecting to run out a long time ago."

"Is this going to be a problem," Lightning asked as she watched Peter drop the empty cartridges on the ground before crushing them beneath his boots.

"Nope," Peter replied, reassuringly, and he then reached down to his belt and pulled out a couple of fresh cartridges for Lightning to see, which he immediately loaded into the wrist devices. "Two of the first basic rules of being a web-swinger: never web swing unprepared, and always make sure you carry extra cartridges of web-fluid. By the way, this makes it four to three saves in my favor."

Lightning just scoffed in disbelief, knowing he was referring to their little score over which of them had saved the other most from earlier, but she was soon distracted from that when she finally started to glance around in an attempt to figure out just where they had crashed down. Looking up at the sky told her that it was well past sunset now, but she already knew that from the fact that the only reason she could see was because of the flames coming from the wreckage of their destroyed ship, so she turned attention to the rest of the area. With mostly rocks, jagged cliffs, and a lot of scrap metal as far as the eye could see, Lightning was able to quickly figure out that they were stranded somewhere out in the Cocoon Deadlands, and given how high some of the mountains of rock seemed to reach, she would have placed them somewhere in the midst of the Vile Peaks. It was not really all that far from where they had started, but it was still a much greater distance away than they had been before, so she reasoned that they would have to take what they could get, especially if PSICOM was still tracking them.

She was just about to start making a plan for what they should do once the others had woken up, when she saw Peter tensing up a little, and that could only mean that his Spider-Sense was going off. If he was going to say anything though, it quickly became a moot point when she heard something start coming their way, and in little time, they were surrounded by a pack of Pantherons, along with a larger variety that was emerald and seemed to have sharper claws, which she recognized as Thexterons. At the moment, she knew that there was really only one option open to her, since everyone other than Peter was still out of it and leaving them to fend for themselves right now would mean their deaths even with the spider-hero's help, so she drew her gunblade, flicked it into sword mode, and charged in, cutting down the closest Pantheron in mere seconds. What she had not taken into account was that she would be leaving herself open to be attacked by one of the Thexterons, and as a result, it immediately pounced at her, only to be yanked away and slammed into a large slab of burning metal thanks to a well-timed web-line from Spider-Man.

"Can't let you have all the fun, Lightning," Spidey joked as he spun forward and slammed his fist down on another Thexteron. He then punched out another Pantheron while it was in mid-pounce, and quickly kicked an approaching Thexteron into a third Pantheron that was right behind it.

"You have a really weird idea of fun," Lightning commented as she took to slicing or blasting whatever one of the two types of beasts landed in her crosshairs.

"Really? You're just now noticing that," Peter quipped in response as he flipped clear of two charging Pantherons, letting them collide with one another so he could stop them in their tracks with a pellet of Impact Webbing.

Lightning had nothing to say in response to that, and instead just continued with what she was already doing, occasionally even assisting Spider-Man in taking down one of the two types of wolf-like enemies when she saw a chance to do so. This action was easily reciprocated from time to time when Spidey would set up another enemy for her to finish off as well, usually by webbing its feet in place so that it could not move to attack or evade her attacks when they were coming towards it, and as they continued this deadly little dance of theirs, they both had to take note of how well they were working together. Yes, they had done so quite a few times up until now, but it had not really registered how well they were working with one another until now, and they could not help but wonder just why it was they were able to do so in the first place. Perhaps it was just a case of having a few similarities in fighting styles, but somehow, neither Lightning nor Peter felt that it could be as simple as that. Either way, it did not matter at the moment, because thinking about such things was more of a distraction right now, so they both put it aside and focused on the fight at hand.

Eventually, the noise they were stirring up in this little scuffle managed to bring the others around, starting with Vanille, who quickly finished rousing Sazh and Hope back to consciousness, and the remaining three were quick to join in on the fighting in an attempt to help finish off their current attackers. Not one of them was really complaining about how they were not being attacked by soldiers or Cie'th at the moment, but at the same time, they were all starting to get a little tired of having to fight period. That did not stop them from being able to put up a very impressive fight, and as a result, it was only a matter of time, mixed with some rather impressive use of magic on Hope and Vanille's parts, until every last one of the four-legged beats were either webbed up completely or killed off. The minute that they saw the fight was over, just about everyone let out a sigh of relief, and Vanille was soon collapsing against a nearby boulder in exhaustion after storing her weapon back into her pelt.

"Phew! Man, I'm beat," Sazh panted as he joined Vanille in sitting down to catch his breath, while Hope just kneeled down with his hands on his knees to do the same. It was at this point that everyone realized that the only who was moving to take a rest was Lightning, but instead, the ex-soldier was actually marching onward down the path like she was planning to lead on and keep going. "What, no break," Sazh exclaimed when he realized what Lightning was silently telling them.

That brought Lightning's stride to a standstill, and she gave a pointed glance at the older man as she reminded him, "They're tracking us."

"I know that," Sazh stated, but it did not seem like Lightning believed him, giving him all the reason to reaffirm himself. "I know that, but we aren't soldiers! We don't have your kind of stamina."

"You've got enough to complain," Lightning retorted, this time throwing Sazh a small glare before she started marching onward again.

"Oh, that's-," Sazh started to say, only to realize that he had nothing to shoot back with in response, so he simply waved her off and snapped, "Forget it!"

"How about, no," Spider-Man suggested, non-seriously as he jumped in front of Lightning, halting her progress once more. When she threw him a glare that silently demanded he get out of her way, Peter did not back down at all, but instead said, "We all get that PSICOM's still after us, Lightning, but right now, it doesn't look like they're still on us. And besides that, Sazh does have a point in saying that he and the other two aren't used to going nonstop like you and I are, so we should at least stop for a minute and catch our breathes."

"But you don't know for sure that we've managed to lose them, temporarily or otherwise, and if we stay here, they'll be sure to find us in no time, so we need to keep moving," Lightning retorted, and she immediately shoved past Spider-Man, proving that she was not going to hear any protests from anyone.

Peter just sighed in annoyance before he looked to the other three, seeing that they were all watching both him and the departing Lightning the entire time, and while Vanille and Sazh did not seem to be planning on getting up any time soon, he was surprised to find that Hope was actually straightening up and moving towards where Lightning had headed. "I think, um…" Hope tried to say, but he did not really need to say anything for the others to know what he was planning.

"You go on ahead, Hope. I'll catch up with you and Lightning in a minute," Spidey advised.

Hope looked to the other two to see if they were okay with that, and Vanille simply nodded in reply while Sazh shrugged and said, "Hey, better to stick with her and the resident superhero of our group if you ask me."

"Later, then," Hope nodded to the two, before casting a look to Spider-Man that clearly begged him to not take too long in catching up.

Spidey just nodded to Hope before he turned to chase after Lightning before he looked to the other two and said, "I get the feeling that you guys probably won't be able to follow the exact same route as me, Lightning, and Hope, even if you weren't going to rest up here for a minute, so just try to stick to a route that you can work with when you're ready to head out and catch up with us."

"And how are we supposed to catch up with you when we won't even know where you guys have gone," Sazh asked.

"With these," Spider-Man said as he pulled out a handheld device that looked like a smartphone and a Spider-Tracer. "Once you guys are ready to get going, tap the center of this tracking device, and I'll be able to know where you guys are going the whole time, unless something causes the signal to go out, or you somehow end up out of range. That little computer will also let you follow the signal of a Spider-Tracer I'll have active on me so that you can follow us without having to guess where we've been. When it's on, the blue light that's not closest to the center will be me."

"You really seem to be ready for anything," Vanille observed with a smile.

"Boy Scouts aren't the only ones whose motto is be prepared," Spider-Man easily quipped in reply.

"You sure that PSICOM or the Sanctum won't be able to get a signal from these things," Sazh asked, voicing his biggest worry about said tracking device.

"Please," Peter scoffed, almost sounding insulted. "These trackers send out a special signal that can only be detected by either a handheld computer like the one I just gave you or me, since it also sends out a signal that broadcasts on the same frequency as my Spider-Sense. The chances of PSICOM or the Sanctum being able to pick it up, even by accident, are so slim, that even the old Spider Luck wouldn't be able to help them with it."

Sazh nodded in acceptance of this, and then he and Vanille were both soon waving to him as he departed from them to catch up with both Hope and Lightning. After pausing to look back at the two one last time, Peter could not help but wonder if it was a good idea to leave them on their own like this, but at the moment, he was more concerned with Lightning. It was clear to him that she was in need of a friend right now, given everything that just happened, and he had no intention of going back on his word to be there for her when she needed just that. With his decision made and little else he could to help Sazh and Vanille, Spidey quickly headed out, knowing that he would likely catch up with Hope and Lightning soon enough with little problems, assuming nothing happened to slow him down too much.

* * *

 _'Bunch of idiotic, helpless morons. Almost makes me miss that wannabe hero, Snow. If we want to stay alive right now, we can't afford to rest now, let alone right next to the ship we had just been flying in before it crash-landed,'_ Lightning mentally griped as she marched onward. It was honestly starting to baffle her as to why she was even sticking around with most of these people. Aside from the fact that they were all in the same boat by being Pulse l'Cie, and the fact that they all probably had the same Focus, there was really nothing that could possibly tie them together for any reason in her eyes. More than that, there were also the massive clashes of personalities to consider. Vanille was a freaking airhead who was far too cheerful for someone in her situation, Sazh was the ultimate defeatist and quick to jump to the worst case scenarios in just about everything, and Hope was a nervous wreck trying to be tough right from the get-go. Really, the only one of them who had the slightest bit of a clue in her eyes was Peter, and even then Lightning felt that might be stretching it a little. Sure, he was more experienced in dealing with impossible odds than the rest of them, given what they now knew about him and his history, and he did seem to have a good head on his shoulders most of the time, but with the way he would often joke around and often mess with her made Lightning question if the web-head was mentally stable.

If she were to pause for a moment and think, Lightning would have to admit that Peter did have something of a point earlier when he said that they should stop and catch their breathes for a minute since it did seem like they might have lost PSICOM for the moment, and that the others were not used to the rigorous work ethic that Lightning typically put up when she was on duty, but at the same time, she did not want to take any risks in case the former of those two points was not true. Besides that, it was not like she really needed to stick with the group all the time. If anything, she could easily just leave them all to fend for themselves if she wanted to, now that they were out of Lake Bresha. They were clearly capable of at least defending themselves if necessary, but then again, she actually knew the area they were in, and had a better idea of what they were likely going to be up against if they ran into anymore trouble with the Sanctum's lapdogs. It was for that reason and that reason alone that she had not taken off at full speed after departing from the others, because she knew that they would all be coming along soon enough in an attempt to catch up. Besides that, she had a hunch that Peter would be able to catch up with her easily enough, even if he had to carry every one of the other three on his own, so why make him work so hard for it.

That was why she was not surprised when she heard hurried footsteps coming up from behind her at a pace that was too light to be that of a person wearing armor like a soldier's. Looking over her shoulder though, Lightning was actually a little surprised to see that it was only Hope who had come after her, and it did not seem like the others were anywhere in sight at the moment. "Just you," Lightning asked, managing to keep her surprise at bay to the point where it was hardly noticeable, if at all.

"For now, I guess," Hope shrugged as he slowed to a stop. "Should we wait?"

"They'll catch up. Eventually," Lightning waved off before turning to depart again, only to jump back in shock when she found herself almost face-to-mask with Spider-Man. "Do you always have to come out of nowhere like that," she immediately demanded of the superhero.

"Uh actually, I just landed here a couple seconds ago. Didn't you hear the old thwip-thwip of my web-shooters," Spidey questioned in confusion.

"Let's just get moving," Lightning huffed, blatantly dodging the question as she marched onwards.

Spider-Man stared after Lightning for a minute before he turned to Hope and asked, "You heard me coming, right?"

"No, not really, but I did see you land in front of her," Hope admitted.

"Well, I guess I should just take that to mean that I'm getting better at stealth stuff," Spidey shrugged like it did not bother him at all, and two boys then jogged on ahead to catch up with their female companion.

They did not go very far before the amount of scrap metal, remains of robot-like devices and other junk really started to grab Peter's attention, and he could not help but wonder what the deal was with all of it. Lightning had mentioned at some point during their trek that this area was known as the Vile Peaks, and part of him could not help but wonder if the amount of very sharp, dangerous metals lying about was part of the reason for said name, but after seeing how many large cliffs and mountains there appeared to be in the area, both in terms of natural mountains and ones made of metal and scrap, he had to assume it was for a different reason. When he spotted what was probably the twentieth mountain of dangerous scrap, he could not keep himself from asking his two current traveling companions about it at last.

"What's with all this junk? Is this Cocoon's junkyard or something," Spidey questioned.

Lightning seemed to ignore him for some reason, as her eyes did not waver from the path in front of them in the slightest and her stride did not slow or break at all, much to Peter's slight surprise. Lightning had never seemed to have a problem with answering his questions before, so he could only assume that something had changed recently, aside from the obvious fact that she had lost Serah and was now forced to become a l'Cie. Hope on the other hand did not mind answering Spidey's question at all. "Kind of. For the most part, all the junk around here actually came from Pulse."

"Wait, seriously," Peter asked in disbelief. "Are you saying that people from Pulse actually got into Cocoon at some point during that war I keep hearing about?" He did actually do a little bit of reading to learn about the world he was stuck in, but only so that he could know the bare basics about things regarding its history.

"No. Pulse forces might've tried, but they never got into Cocoon, let alone this far, aside from when Ragnarok blasted that opening in the shell," Hope explained. "They only damaged the outer rim before the Sanctum's fal'Cie pushed them back."

"So then what's a bunch of junk from Pulse doing here on Cocoon," Peter asked.

"Because Pulse had damaged Cocoon, and no one wanted to waste resources needlessly to fix it," Lightning sharply cut in, surprising the two boys a little, both with her sudden jump into the conversation, and with just how sharp her tone was.

When she did not say anymore than that, Hope took it upon himself to elaborate for Spider-Man. "Once the War of Transgression was over, people couldn't live near the rim anymore, in places like the Hanging Edge. So the fal'Cie gathered up scrap from Pulse and used it for rebuilding here. This is what was left: a bunch of garbage."

"And not once did they figure that a Pulse fal'Cie could've been mixed in with that garbage," Lightning muttered just softly enough to still be heard by Peter at the very least, who instantly shot her a worried look from behind the lenses of his mask. All the same, he felt that he just had to comment on the matter, and he wasted no time in doing so.

"Well that was a dumb move," Spider-Man said, gaining both of the other two's attention. "That's like trying to repair a damaged SHIELD Helicarrier with stuff that's left over from a destroyed Doombot."

Lightning and Hope stared at the web-swinger for a minute before the former finally asked, "Should we just pretend like we understand what that means, or are you going to explain it to us later on?"

"Oh, right," Spidey muttered, just remember that neither of the two would know what he meant when he said that last sentence. "For now, I'd go with the smile and nod option. I'll probably go into a little more detail later on. Like when we're not in the middle of trying to get away from any pursuing PSICOM squads."

The other two nodded in response to this answer, and they all continued on like nothing strange or confusing had happened. Their journey was not entirely peaceful though, as they did encounter a few PSICOM Watchdrones along the way, as well as some additional evidence that not all of the garbage from Pulse was inoperable when they were forced to fight some Pulse drones that were somehow still functional after so many years. In all honesty, said drones were probably the oddest looking robots that Peter had ever seen, even in regards to the robots that PSICOM used, and that was saying something considering the odd looking machines he had seen in all of his years of being Spider-Man. The one thing that the Pulse drones had in common was that they all seemed to be made like something that a person would assemble in their garage, and they all had slightly misshapen bodies, mostly with one arm being bigger and more dangerous than the other to an incredible degree. Of course, they did have a few saving graces, and that was the fact that unlike the Watchdrones, the Pulse robots were not all that quick in their movements, so that made it easier for the unlikely trio to take them down.

What they were most thankful for was the fact that the battles they faced at the moment were few and in between, which Peter and Hope took to mean that they were really starting to lose PSICOM for the moment, and Lightning was beginning to think along similar lines of thought as well. Still, they did not relax their guards entirely, and as a result they continued to press on until they reached a point where they would not be able to go any further, or until they encountered an obstacle that they would not be able to get around so easily. That obstacle came in the form of a massive mountain of rock and metal which would not be easily assailable for the average person. When he saw Lightning pausing for a minute to scan the area for any openings they could use to get through, Hope took the chance to sit down for a minute and catch his breath, while Spider-Man did the same as Lightning, only without pacing.

When Lightning did not seem to find any routes after a few minutes, Hope started to become concerned and finally asked the woman a question he probably should have voiced a little sooner. "You…know where you're going, right?"

"I've been here on missions before," was the only answer that Lightning gave the boy, even as she continued to analyze their current obstacle.

"Missions? Nothing to do with the Purge, though," Hope asked, suddenly feeling a little anxious in regards to the ex-soldier.

"The Purge is PSICOM's baby," Lightning immediately reassured Hope. When she realized how little that was helping, she started to elaborate a little more in her reassurance while beginning a climb up the mountain in front of them. "Our military is split into two arms: the Public Security and Intelligence Command, known as PSICOM, and the Guardian Corps. I was Guardian Corps, Bodhum Security Regiment."

"And she was one of its best, from what I've heard," Spider-Man piped in with some quick praise. Lightning immediately glanced away when she felt her face heating up a little after hearing said praise, but said heat quickly died down again when she heard Hope's next question.

"Wait, but I don't get it. If you're not PSICOM, then why did you board the train," the boy asked.

Lightning's answer may have been easy for her, but it also reminded her of her most recent, and what she was currently considering her greatest failure when she thought of it. She had no intention of voicing that feeling, but she did still intend to voice her answer to Hope's question. She just had to hope that her feelings on the matter did not show in her voice when she did. "For Serah," Lightning replied, not realizing that Peter's worried look was now back in full and focused entirely on her. "I had to rescue Serah before they transported the Vestige to Pulse, and out of my reach. My only chance to save her was to join the Purge."

Not once when Lightning was talking did Peter miss the sadness in her voice. He knew it was there because he had heard it before in his own voice whenever he discussed certain topics with someone. Chief among those topics was the death of his Uncle Ben, and the fate of Gwen Stacy, and now, he had to add hearing the news about his late aunt to that list. Realizing where his train of thought was leading, Peter instantly shook him out of it and revealed to Hope, "I was actually one of the people that told Lightning about how her sister was trapped in the Vestige, and when she decided to get on that train, I didn't hesitate to volunteer my services to help out."

Hope could hardly believe what he just heard from either one of the two adults before him, and he had to voice that disbelief. "You're telling me you got on that train so you could save your sister," Hope asked Lightning before he turned to Spider-Man. "And you went along just because you wanted to help?"

"Well that, and because I swore to never look the other way when someone was in trouble, and what PSICOM was doing was endangering a lot of people, including Serah, so even if she wasn't in there, or if Lightning didn't do something, I still would've snuck aboard that train to try and help out," Spider-Man easily replied, his voice brimming with confidence, determination, and conviction.

Hope looked at the New York hero in awe for a minute before he finally let out a dry chuckle and said, "That's crazy. I could never do something like that."

"Sure you could, Hope. You seem like a pretty brave kid to me. I mean, you're clearly freaked out over everything that's happened, but you're still tagging along and fighting with us," Spidey instantly disputed, not wanting to let the kid's spirits get down.

Lightning did not necessarily feel the same way as Spider-Man, but at the same time, she still felt that she needed to impart at least some form of wisdom to Hope. "It's not a question of can or can't. There are some things in life you just do."

Hope was about to call Lightning out on her little philosophy when Spider-Man beat him to the punch with something completely different. "Did you just rip off _Star Wars_?"

"No, I didn't. I said 'It's not a question of can or can't. There are some things in life you just do.' I didn't say 'Do or do not. There is no try.' So cool your thrusters Han Solo," Lightning disputed.

Spider-Man was just seconds away from saying that the two lines were still very similar when something else suddenly registered with him. "Wait, are you telling me that you guys don't have the _Wizard of Oz_ , but you do have _Star Wars_?"

"The wizard of what," a bewildered Hope asked. He was not entirely sure how they got from what they were talking about before to this, and he was even more confused by the title that Spidey had just named.

"Well, yeah. I'm surprised you have it in your universe," Lightning admitted, almost acting like she had not heard Hope at all.

Spidey just sighed in response to both answers before muttering, "That's just one of those things that a good majority of the universes in the multiverse have as a constant."

Hope continued to glance confusingly between the two for a minute, while Lightning just stared at Spider-Man, not sure what to say now, until finally, the lone female of the trio decided to take action and break the weird air that had suddenly fallen over them. Spidey and Hope could only watch on in awe for a moment as the ex-soldier expertly climbed up the cliff and onto a rusty pipe before she jumped the rest of the way up using some metal beams like stairs until she disappeared over the top of the cliff. The two just looked on at what had just happened in silence until Spider-Man finally said, "Seriously, she's not even from the same universe, and yet I still can't help but wonder if she's somehow related to Black Widow whenever she does something like that."

Hope would have asked about the person Spidey was talking about, but at the moment, he was feeling a little too down on himself to really bother all that much. Instead, he just returned to his rock and sat down again, and voiced his self-pity by saying, "She left me."

"Technically, she's _trying_ to leave us both. Saying that she actually has left us would be to imply that she's actually succeeded now," Spider-Man corrected. His statement did not do much to help the boy, so he instantly knelt down and said, "Hey, don't go doing that whole pity-party thing where you feel sorry for yourself and like you can't do anything to help out, because quite frankly, it kinda goes against what your name is supposed to do for people. That and feeling lousy over failures is my thing."

Hope just shrugged him off and continued on with feeling sorry for himself. "This whole thing is pointless. I can't keep up. I can't get home…It's over for me."

"Hey, quit that. It's not over yet, Hope," Spidey told him, surprising the boy with how serious he suddenly became. "Just because you can't do something on your own, doesn't mean you should be ashamed of it. I may tend to work alone most of the time when I'm out being a hero, but I still know there's never anything wrong with asking for help now and then. Besides, you remember what Snow said? That you'd get home if you stick with me and Lightning."

"It's not exactly easy to stick with Lightning when she's just left us behind," Hope disputed.

"Well to be fair, she is kinda going through some problems of her own at the moment," the web-head reminded him. "Besides, I'm still here, and I never leave someone to go it alone when they need an extra helping hand. Besides, I did promise your mom that I'd keep you safe until you got home."

"Except I don't have a home anymore now that Mom is…" Hope sadly stated.

Spider-Man was a bit hesitant to broach this next topic, because he was not sure he would like the answer if he did, but he still had to ask. "What about your dad? I mean, he is still around, right?"

"Depends on what you mean by around," Hope bitterly replied. "It's not like he actually cares. He's always spending all his time with his job and business meetings, never making time for me or Mom."

This all sounded very familiar to Peter, as it reminded him quite easily of the relationship that had once existed between his friend Harry Osborn and his father, Norman, alias the Green Goblin. Just thinking about the latter made Peter clench his fist in anger, but he quickly quieted that feeling before Hope could take notice, assuming the boy was not too far into his resentment of his father to notice. Once he was sure that he was calm, Peter looked to Hope and said, "Hope, I know it probably seems that way, but I'm sure that your dad cares a great deal about you, like any sensible, good parent would. Some parents just have a harder time showing it than others."

"What makes you say that," Hope asked.

"Let's just say that I had a friend back home whose father was…something like that," Peter replied. His voice then dropped down a few notches in volume as he silently added, "At least before he turned into a psychotic, mass-murdering criminal." When it was clear that Hope did not hear that last part, he breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Don't worry, we'll catch up with Lightning, get you home before you know it, and your dad will be thrilled to see you."

Hope did not seem like he was willing to believe Spider-Man when it came to what he thought about his father, but still nodded in agreement with the web-head all the same. That just left one question unanswered. "How are we supposed to catch up with Lightning," Hope asked, knowing he could not possibly get over that mountain on his own.

"Well, I can get over it easily, so the answer's simple," Spider-Man said, and he then knelt down so that his back was facing Hope. "Climb up, Hope. I'll carry you over, and if necessary, I can carry you the rest of the way until we've caught up to Lightning."

Hope looked a bit unsure about Spider-Man's approach, but considering that Lightning probably had a pretty decent lead on them by this point, he knew that there was not really much time to argue, so he did as Spider-Man asked and got on the web-head's back. Once he was sure that Hope was secure in his current position, Spider-Man instantly leapt up and began scaling the mountain of rock and junk just as easily if not more easily than Lightning had. Minutes later, Hope found was letting out a surprisingly excited cheer as he and Spidey swung through the air after Lightning. Given how downhearted the kid was just a second ago, Peter was glad to hear Hope was cheering up at least a little bit.

* * *

Catching up with Lightning again was a cinch for Spidey, and the minute he did, he finally let Hope off his back so that the boy could walk the rest of the way to their unknown destination on his own. If Lightning was glad to see either of them, she did an incredibly excellent job of not showing it, because the only reaction she gave to either of them was a small stare before turning around to continue onwards. Both of the boys were soon falling in step behind her, and shortly after, they found themselves faced with a few dozen Pulse machines that were clearly not going to let them pass easily. Seeing this, Lightning and Spider-Man both took up arms and engaged the machines in battle, with Hope lending a hand wherever and whenever he could, not that it was all that necessary. For the most part, Lightning and Spider-Man were able to handle the fight very well, right to the point where it was practically child's play for them, and as such, Spidey somehow managed to rope Lightning into keeping score on how many enemies they each took down. If she were being honest, Lightning was not really sure how he managed to do it, but what was even more surprising was that she did not have a problem with it, at least, not on the inside. On the outside, she did everything she could to show nothing but distaste for such a ridiculous game, and that only made Peter find it even more fun and humorous.

When they had finally finished said fight, Lightning was even more irritated to discover that Spider-Man actually beat her by one takedown. Normally this would not be too big of a deal for her, but for some reason, it still felt like a blow to her pride, and that just made her even angrier. This irritated attitude continued on even when they finally met up again with Vanille and Sazh, who had managed to find an alternate route over to their location thanks to both Sazh's ingenuity and Spidey's tracking device, which the old man ended up keeping at Peter's insistence. Peter had a feeling he would need to hold on to it for the foreseeable future, and that it would likely be because of something Lightning would say or do later on. Not that he was planning on saying that out loud given Lightning's current mood. He was just glad that neither Sazh nor Vanille seemed to be offended by Lightning's attitude towards them when they did catch up again, but that was really just a small saving grace for the moment.

Their bad luck soon returned in extreme measures though when the team encountered a massive robot that Lightning easily identified as a full-fledged Pulse armament, forcing Hope and Vanille to take cover on the sidelines while the three adults of the group stood their ground in the ensuing battle. The machine may have been slow when it came to moving around an area, but its attacks came very quickly and delivered a very serious amount of damage to anyone who was unfortunate enough to be hit by them, a fact that was quickly discovered whenever one of the three was hit by the Dreadnought. Thankfully, Hope and Vanille were both able to use a recently learned healing spell to keep Sazh and Lightning in one piece, while Spidey was able to shrug off most of the damage he would occasionally receive due to carelessness or being unable to react in time.

Even when the machine blasted the metal ground out from beneath them, the five did not stay down for long, and were soon throwing everything and anything they could at it in an attempt to bring the destructive machine down. At one point, Sazh and Lightning even figured out how to imbue magic into their weapons in order to give them a little extra punch, but only the former ever really did it all that much while the latter seemed to avoid using any magic at all like she had for quite some time now, as many of the group could not help but note. Still, despite anyone's desire to use magic or not, they were able to come out victorious in their fight against the deadly machine, and after pausing to catch their breath, they immediately headed out once again, knowing that their fight probably drew the attention of any nearby Sanctum patrols.

"Pulse is crawling with things like that, isn't it," Sazh eventually asked Lightning after they had gotten a fair distance from their previous battleground.

"Got me," the ex-soldier admitted with a shrug, surprising everyone when she did. "Not even the Corps has access to intel on Pulse. Soldiers in the field fight blind."

"That's incredibly risky. I mean, doesn't it bother you not knowing at least something about what you're up against in a fight," Spider-Man asked.

"Target's a target," Lightning shrugged again, completely nonchalant on the matter.

"And that is a flat out dangerous and suicidal way of thinking."

"Or just a way of showing that Soldier Girl likes to keep it simple," Sazh disputed with Spidey.

"I just stick to my goal," Lightning corrected.

That got Hope's attention, and he soon asked, "As long as you have a goal, you can fight?"

"You can stay alive," Lightning clarified as she increased her pace a hair.

Spider-Man just shook his head in disbelief at this. Thinking back, he could not count the number of times he had gotten his butt handed to him because he knew next to nothing about the enemies he was facing, especially in the case of supervillains, and if fighting in the field was anything like that, he was honestly amazed that Lightning or anyone in the Sanctum's forces were even still alive after a mission in the field. When he had joined the Avengers, he quickly learned just how important knowing even the most inconsequential piece of information regarding an enemy or a mission was, a fact that was drilled into him by Captain America and Black Widow quite a few times, so hearing Lightning talk like being in the dark on what her enemies were capable of was no big deal to her made him wonder if she was really just this skilled or if it was just a result of her recent burdens of pain and anger coming out.

It was not until they reached a mountain of metal and rubble that the group finally came to a longer rest at last, and Peter could not help but note that a good majority of this pile of wreckage seemed like it was the remains of an old ship of some kind, but that was just a minor detail that did not matter too much. All that really mattered was that it gave them a good vantage point for spotting any other possible ambushes before they happened, and allowed them to rest a little easier. At least, it would have if any of them were able to rest easy at all in their current situation, and this was a fact that Sazh was quick to remind everyone of when he finally sat down again alongside Peter and Lightning with a tired sigh.

"Not much of a future for us, huh," the older man asked.

"Hard to picture a happy ending," Lightning agreed.

"Maybe, but that doesn't mean there isn't one at all," Peter pointed out, trying to bring the group's spirits up a little with a good old bit of his usual optimism.

"Well how are we supposed to reach it? We don't even know where to go," Sazh pointed out.

"I do," Lightning stated, surprising everyone. She then turned her gaze upwards to the sky, her eyes narrowing a little as she indicated her intended destination and declared, "There."

Looking to where Lightning's gaze had settled, everyone's eyes only found a massive structure up in the sky, lit up with a brilliant white light that practically made it seem like the moon in Cocoon's night sky. A few extensions on the front and back of the structure indicated that it was possible to reach it, but only via some form of transport that the group did not currently have access to. All the same, it did not make Lightning's decision to travel to it any less shocking to those who knew full well what this place was. "Eden? The Sanctum's seat of power. Oh, that's a great idea. Just charge right in there, and give 'em a taste of l'Cie terror," Sazh chuckled humorously once he had gotten over his early shock. When he realized that Lightning was not showing any signs of kidding around though, his smile instantly vanished while a worrying revelation came to his mind. "You're serious."

"Trust me, there are days when I'm not entirely sure if Lightning even knows how to make a joke," Spider-Man informed the man with a chocobo in his hair, and unlike Lightning, it was a little easier to tell if he was joking when he said that.

While Lightning did not indulge the web-head in his teasing entirely, she did still throw him a mildly annoyed glare before she started to explain her reasoning for deciding to head for Eden. "Keep running-it's either die or turn Cie'th. There's no place for l'Cie to hide. No…They want a fight? Let's take it to the Sanctum's door!"

"This isn't a game," Sazh shouted, hardly believing what he was hearing from the young woman right now.

"No, that's for damn sure," Lightning agreed with a shake of her head before turning to glare at Sazh a little. "It started with Serah. The fal'Cie took her, and now I'm a l'Cie too, and the Sanctum's hunting me, an enemy of the state. But who's pulling their strings? A fal'Cie: Eden, Cocoon's Sustainer and Guiding Light. It probably ordered the Purge, too. Pulse and Sanctum fal'Cie; they're all the same, and we're all the same to them: expendable." If such a thing was possible, Lightning's gaze hardened even more than it had been before as she declared, "I'm not dying a fal'Cie slave."

"So, what're you gonna do," Sazh hesitantly asked, a little intimidated by what Lightning had just said, and scared of what the answer to his question may be. Both feelings were shared by each of the other three who had heard all of this as well.

They were right to be scared, because despite how simple and short Lightning's answer was, it sent chills down everyone's spines, and left a horrible, clenching feeling in each of their stomachs. "Destroy it."

"By yourself? What, are you crazy," Sazh demanded. "Say you pull it off, what's that get you? Satisfaction. Something happens to Eden, it's lights out Cocoon!" The minute those words of reminder fell from his lips, Sazh felt himself reaching a startling realization that he had not considered before, and it caused him to turn an accusatory glare at the ex-soldier. "You _want_ that," he gasped. "You're a Pulse l'Cie now, so you just want to snuff out Cocoon!"

"No! What about Serah," Vanille demanded. "She said to save Cocoon! It might even be our Focus to make sure Cocoon stays-."

"Our Focus doesn't matter," Lightning angrily snapped, shutting up everyone who had said or was about to say anything more on the matter. Clearly Vanille's mentioning of Serah was not a smart idea. "I don't take orders from fal'Cie. How I live is up to me."

"Fine then, but don't expect any of us to stand back and let you throw your life away just because you're upset about what had happened to your sister," Peter retorted in an eerily even voice, drawing all attention away from Lightning and onto him, along with a very heated glare from said woman.

"What was that," the rosette quietly demanded, her hand subconsciously moving to either clench into a fist or pull out her gunblade depending on how Peter answered.

When Peter turned to face her, everyone could somehow tell that not only was his gaze on all of them, it was pointedly infuriated, and it showed even more in his voice when he spoke. "I get it. You're all confused, scared, and willing to grasp at any small straw that may give you a sense of where to go from here, but this isn't the way to resolve any of our problems. We can't afford to turn on each other right now and start saying that any of us want to do anything that would cause one another or this world harm, be it because you guys are now Pulse l'Cie or some other damn reason, because right now, with all of Cocoon after us, we're all any of us have got," Peter told them all as calmly as he could.

Sazh and Vanille could only hang their heads in sorrow knowing that they had done exactly what Spidey said they should not be doing when they accused Lightning of wanting to destroy Cocoon simply because of what she and the rest of them now were, while Hope could not help but wonder just how this could relate to his feelings regarding Snow at the moment. Lightning did not seem to take Peter's words to heart as quickly, and simply retorted, "I'm after the Sanctum. I'm not out to destroy the world."

"Well good for you. You want to take down the ruling body of Cocoon, but what do you think will happen afterwards," Peter asked, sarcastically, his voice rising in volume a bit, startling some of the group a little, including Lightning. "If we were to do anything like that, we'll only be proving all this Pulse-phobia crap to be true, and not only will Cocoon be in the dark, the people will be in chaos and crying out for our heads, along with anyone else who they think may have even the smallest of small ties to Pulse! Us taking out the Sanctum right now wouldn't just destroy the world, it would obliterate it!"

"And what would you do if it did come to that, Spider-Man? Try and fight me? Maybe team up with our 'hero' in some attempt to stop me," Lightning demanded, not caring at all if she was making anyone angry or frightened with her words. What happened next though was the last thing that she expected.

Even if it was not all that hard, the sound of flesh meeting flesh still seemed to echo throughout the area along with Vanille's shocked gasp, and Hope and Sazh could do nothing more than gape in silence at what had just happened. Out of everyone though, Lightning was the one who was the most shocked, and it showed in the disbelieving look on her face just as much as the slightly red mark on her cheek displayed what had just happened. Spider-Man had actually just _slapped_ Lightning. Granted it was only hard enough to make her turn her head a little, but the fact that he had slapped her at all was the thing that made everyone pause, and the only reason why no one was calling him out on this action was that, even through his mask, they could all see just how viciously Spidey was glaring at Lightning.

"I am _not_ your enemy, Lightning Farron, and despite how you feel about him, neither is Snow," Spider-Man practically snarled at the shocked woman. "We're your friends, and in point of fact, I'm not trying to stop you. I'm trying to _save_ you from making the worst mistake of your life. Maybe your Focus is to save Cocoon, maybe it isn't, and maybe you're right to say that it doesn't matter simply because we all make our own destiny, but what I do know for a fact is that the Lightning Farron I know is someone who would never put innocent people in danger just because she would feel better later on, and if you go through with a plan like that, you will be destroying more than just the Sanctum fal'Cie; you will be destroying who you are!"

Lightning had now gotten over her shock, but she still found herself unable to say anything in response. The fact that this man with such a tragic story and amazing abilities seemed to hold her in such high regards was shocking on its own, but it was how sure he sounded about his predictions and words was that really threw her for a loop. Even though she wanted to, how could she really argue with him after hearing something like that? Maybe if he had not just taken an action she never would have expected him to take against her, she would have been able to think of some kind, any kind of retort, but right now, all she could do was just silently stare at him. Seeing that he had induced such a stunned silence into Lightning, Peter took the opportunity to voice his own plan of action for their little group.

"While I may disagree with the ultimate goal she has in mind, I do agree with Lightning in saying that Eden is where we need to go," Peter revealed, surprising everyone. "Not so that we can destroy the Sanctum's seat of power or anything like that, but so we can clear our names and, hopefully, put an end to all this anti-Pulse hysteria."

"And how're we supposed to do that," Sazh asked, being the first to find his voice again. "People's feelings about Pulse have existed for hundreds of years ever since the War of Transgression. How do you expect to put an end to that?"

"I don't know, and right now, I honestly don't give a thwipping damn," Peter admitted. "We'll cross that bridge when we get there, but for right now, we need to get PSICOM off our backs, and as far as I can see, there's only one way we can do that: we have to split up."

"But won't that just put us in more danger," Vanille asked.

"Not entirely," Peter admitted. "Finding a group of five people is easy, especially for an organization with PSICOM's resources, but if we divide up into a smaller group, say one group of two and one of three, then we'll make ourselves harder to find. That being said, in order for this plan to work, one of these two groups will have to draw PSICOM's attention onto them while the other one gets away, hopefully unnoticed. Once that's been done, the group that grabs PSICOM's attention can safely lose them long enough to at least find shelter. Afterwards, it'll be up to the members of both parties to decide whether or not they go to Eden. I'm already going to head there myself to do what I said I would do, and I'll welcome any help I can get from you guys, but the rest of you should only go if you think you can do what I believe we should do. Otherwise, the decision on what you do once your safe is yours."

No one voiced any protests to Spider-Man's plan, and from there, it was just a matter of deciding who would be in what group. It was only a matter of seconds before Hope was the first to volunteer for a team, and said, "I'm going with whatever team Spidey's going to be on."

Peter just smiled at the kid from behind his mask, mentally praising him for his courage, even as he said, "I hope you're sure about that, Hope, because that means you'll be on the same team as Lightning."

"Wait, what," Lightning exclaimed, having finally found her voice again. "Why don't I get a say as to which team I'm going to be on?"

"Oh please. You know as well as I do that you were going to volunteer yourself for my group the minute you heard me say that I was going to go to Eden, but just to be clear, I will be keeping an eye on you to make sure you don't do anything stupid. You know, like trying to destroy the Sanctum fal'Cie," Spider-Man scoffed like it was obvious.

Lightning could only huff in response, seeing as what Spider-Man said had pretty much hit the nail right on the head. Still, she had to point out one crucial fact. "You do know that if Hope comes with us, it'll be fight after fight the entire time."

"I know that, but you should really be asking Hope if he knows that. It is a little rude to act like he's not right there, ya know," Spidey pointed out, and like that, both his and Lightning's attention was on the kid.

"Yeah, I know that, but I can fight, and I'm not afraid," Hope informed them as confidently as he could.

That answer was good enough for Peter, and it seemed like it was somewhat satisfactory for Lightning, and with that settled, Sazh and Vanille took that to mean that they would be the group of two that headed in the opposite direction. There was nothing else to be said at this point, so the five took that as their cue to split off into their separate teams, heading in whatever direction they had decided on, once Peter had retrieved the handheld computer Sazh used to follow the signal of his Spider-Tracers just to be safe. Looking back to the other two who were going in the opposite direction of his own group, Peter could not help but say a small prayer for their safety before he followed after Lightning and Hope. Even so, a part of him still had to wonder if his decision on what they should do was the right one, and if they would be able to survive until they all met up again.

* * *

 ** _AN: Ya know, looking back, I probably could've shortened this chapter a bit and made this play out in two separate chapters, and I actually did consider it, but for some reason, I just felt like it would've been too short, or it would've been weird, or something if I did that, so here's the end result. Plus, removing any of it would've made the title of the chapter seem a little weird if you think about it._**

 ** _Spider-Man: Oh my god! I slapped a woman! Worse, I slapped Lightning! Why'd you make me do that?!_**

 ** _Lightning: Talk fast, and answer carefully, and I may not make you join the web-head in receiving punishment._**

 ** _AN: Okay, I'll admit, Spidey slapping Lightning might've been a little out of character for him..._**

 ** _Everyone else: Ya think?!_**

 ** _AN: Let me finish! Anyways, sure, Spidey could've gotten through to her some other way, but under those circumstances, in that situation, it would've taken a very strong-hand approach for him to get through to Lightning, and that was really the best, if not the only thing I could think of that fit the bill perfectly._**

 ** _Sazh: Well, at least we got to hear a little more about this Spider-Man's version of the Marvel Universe._**

 ** _AN: Yes, that being in regards to the matter of mutants, and of course the little reference to SHIELD and Doombots. Honestly, I kinda felt like I had to have Spider-Man make that comparison, because really, if the Sanctum fal'Cie could give humans food, water, and all this other stuff necessary for sustaining life, then why the heck did they need to use stuff from Pulse to repair Cocoon? I mean sure, one could argue that it was probably part of some grand scheme that the big bad of FF13 had to do that, but really, that just makes his plan about as complicated as Xehanort's seems to be in the cannon storyline of the Kingdom Hearts Series, if not as complicated. Seriously, how did using stuff from Pulse to fix Cocoon not raise any kind of any red flags for anyone?_**

 ** _Vanille: Hey, um were all those SpideyxLight moments really necessary this time around?_**

 ** _Spider-Man &Lightning: We were not having-!_**

 ** _AN: Guys, seriously, just save your breathes, otherwise people might start thinking that stuffs not just part of this particular story. Anyways, yeah, they were necessary. I had to show that Spidey was concerned about Lightning's current emotional state somehow, and besides that, I also thought it would add a little bit of lightness to an otherwise serious plot-line. One of my favorite ones to write was the moment when Spidey had to use his own body to keep Lightning safe when the ship was about to crash. Not only did we see more of a development with the two's relationship, but I also got to incorporate one of the oldest, most well-known flaws of Spidey's web-shooters at the same time as well. Plus, when you think about it, with all that Spider-Man has had to do since the Purge started, at least in regards to everything he used his web-shooters for, it is incredible that he did not run out of webbing sooner, so naturally, this bit of good luck had to wear out sooner or later._**

 ** _Spidey: Speaking of development in my new friendships, it looks like me and Hope are really starting to bond quite well._**

 ** _AN: Well, considering how often we hear about how Hope's this really smart kid, and the fact that it shows, I just had this feeling that, as a fellow science geek, Spidey would really connect with the kid. Besides, just look at the two of them. Spidey and Hope have a lot in common when you really think about it, so of course they'd kind of bond a little, if not over similar lives, then definitely over the fact that they both have a love of science._**

 ** _Hope: That does make a lot of sense to me._**

 ** _Spidey: Yeah, I hear that. Science bros! [shares a fist-bump with Hope]_**

 ** _AN: Well, with that said, I think I've pretty much covered everything..._**

 ** _Sazh: Wait a minute, why'd you zero out that last fight? The one with the Dreadnought?_**

 ** _AN: Because it was really not all that necessary to see, and at this point, the chapter was just getting too long. Really, the only things that changed in regards to that fight was that Spider-Man was there, and all that we needed from that was the dialogue that came up afterwards. Now, if there's nothing else, let's move Onto the Preview!..._**

 ** _Lightning, Hope, and Spider-Man's journey gets off to a bit of a rocky start, partially due to the fact that Lightning's prediction of their having constant fights on their hands is quickly proven true. Though if one were to be honest, it's really more due to how agitated Lightning is continuously becoming as they go. As they're traveling, her temper is somehow kept at bay thanks in part to listening as Peter tells Hope a few things about his home universe, but even that does little good in keeping her from finally reaching her breaking point. When that point finally comes, the team is met with an incredible occurrence that none of them were expecting, but what will follow in the aftermath of this incident? A powerful force will strike with in a clash of thunder and lightning (pun intended), next time._**

 ** _Hey, look at that! Looks like we're going to be getting a pretty big, important moment from FF13 next time, along with some more looks at the Marvel universe for this Spider-Man. Until then though..._**

 ** _Please read and review, and swing on back for next time, fellow true believers!_**


	8. Thunder of Odin

**_AN: Well, that didn't take to long this time around, somehow._**

 ** _Spidey: Yeah, I almost expected you to take a month before updating anything again though. It's honestly starting to feel like you really only focus on one story's update for an entire month before updating something else._**

 ** _AN:...Well, someone seems a little bitter about the fact that none of the other stories he's in have been updated lately, even if he is only in a minor role in most of them._**

 ** _Lightning: Actually, I'm pretty sure his attitude has more to do with what he's recently read about in your notes regarding the next few updates for your story Code Avengers: Cosmic. _**

**_Spidey: LIGHTNING! You said you wouldn't say anything!_**

 ** _Snow: Technically, she just grunted at you and walked away. She never actually said she would keep quiet._**

 ** _Noel: [suddenly bursts into the room] Hey, I heard that you guys were having a party here without me._**

 ** _AN: Oh no! Nu-uh! No way! No more surprise appearances from characters that aren't due to show up in the story/possible story series before they're supposed to, and we are definitely a long, long,_ long _ways off from when YOU'RE supposed to appear! [hits control]_**

 ** _Noel: But I'm still a character in...[gets shoved out of the room by a giant, gloved fist before he goes flying through the wall]_**

 ** _Hope: Was that really necessary?_**

 ** _AN: Considering he's going to be a major character in a possible sequel to this story? Yes!_**

 ** _Serah: Speaking of which, what kind of ideas do you have for a sequel to this? I mean, I know that it's likely going to take place in Final Fantasy XIII-2, but aside from adding in Spider-Man, what else could you really change, and what would be different in that story because of what happened in this one?_**

 ** _AN: All very excellent questions, Serah. Most of which I don't really plan on answering just yet seeing as it's still too early in the story to really be talking about such things. All I can say for now is that any possible sequels to this will indeed follow along with a similar yet very different story line compared to that of XIII-2, with a Double-Spider twist._**

 ** _Lightning: What the hell is that supposed to mean?_**

 ** _AN: All in due time, my dear. And speaking of time, we're wasting it when we could be answering reviews. All I can really say this time is a shout-out to "Great Saiyaman54" to thank him for some ideas on jokes that Spidey could use later on. I'm definitely going to use that second one. It honestly cracked me up when I first read it. Haha!_**

 ** _Now, let's get rolling to see what happens to the new trio and when Lightning clashes with her Eidolen this time around. Trust me, you'll all be in for quite the treats with this chapter._**

 _ **I do not own anything from any Spider-Man or Final Fantasy franchises or any other franchise mentioned in this story.**_

* * *

 **Chapter 8: Thunder of Odin**

It was safe to say that shortly after parting ways with Sazh and Vanille, Spider-Man's group had gotten PSICOM's attention securely focused onto them. The fact that they walked right into an ambush that a PSICOM hit squad had set up had been a big help there, but there was no longer any way for them to really know for sure, since for all any of the three knew, Sazh and Vanille were now a fair distance away from where they had left them, and said hit squad had blocked their only way back to them using some explosives to bring a mountain of rumble down into the path in the direction they had come from. Sure, Peter probably could have gotten back if he wanted to, but with all the sharp metal and flames that were in the path back, even he was not willing to risk it. Still, being concerned about their other friends had to wait, because first, they had to take down the soldiers who were currently trying to kill them.

The fight that followed went about as expected, with Lightning and Spidey doing most of the actual fighting, but what was not expected was that Hope was actually able to put up a much more impressive fight this time around than he had in any of the battles before. The kid was still mostly keeping his distance from enemies by casting spells and throwing his boomerang at anyone who was not on his side, but this time around, he was also taking a more up close approach by charging in and using his boomerang as a club when the need called for it. Sometimes, Peter also caught sight of Hope using said weapon to defend himself in a manner similar to how Lightning would use her sword to block attacks, before he blasted his attacker with a fire spell at point-blank. Neither of them was sure if this sudden new vigor was because he was trying to prove he could fight or because he had recognized that it was just the three of them fighting now, but whatever the case was, both Lightning and Spider-Man had to admit that the kid was indeed proving to be a very excellent fighter.

When the fight came to an end and they had a chance to catch their breathes, Lightning could not help but study Hope a little, thinking that she may have judged him a little too quickly before in her initial assessment, and eventually told him, "Not bad, kid."

"Really? Thanks," Hope panted, standing up a little straighter when he heard this unexpected praise.

"Wow. You really must've impressed her if she's giving you praise like that already, Hope. It wasn't until after she had sparring session with me before I got at least that from Lightning," Spider-Man joked. Hope had to smile a little more after hearing that while Lightning just rolled her eyes at the web-head. Seeing that the tension had lessened a bit and that they all seemed to have recovered what strength they had used up in their recent skirmish, Spider-Man became serious once again and said, "We all did good work this time, but we shouldn't relax just yet. There will be more soldiers along soon, which would be obvious given that we're the ones playing decoy for Sazh and Vanille, so we should keep moving."

Hope instantly nodded in and then joined Spider-Man in preparing to head out, but had to pause when he noticed that Lightning was not moving too. Instead, the former soldier was staring back at where the path back to the others had once been, and given how intense her gaze was, Hope only had one guess as to what she was thinking about. "Lightning? Are you worried about the others," Hope asked, drawing Spider-Man to a halt as well when he heard the boy, and the web-head was soon turning to face his friend as well. When Hope received only silence in reply, he took that to mean yes and tried to reassure her, "I'm sure they got away okay."

"So can you, if you leave now," Lightning instantly informed Hope before turning around and marching forward until she was standing just in front of Spider-Man. "With me, it'll be fight after fight, and while I know that Spider-Man can handle it, I'm not so sure about you. I don't know how it'll end. It's anybody's guess, even with Spider-Man helping."

"Wow. Nice to know you have such confidence in my abilities," Spidey quipped in response. He then turned to Hope to see what the boy's answer to Lightning's warning would be. He already knew at least part of the answer, but he was still curious to know if there was more to it than what Snow had told him before.

"I know that, but…Snow said that if I stuck with you and Spider-Man, I'd get home safely, and after seeing what you guys can do, I believe him," Hope revealed. He then paused for a minute and then added, "It's not just that though. I…I need to be stronger. I wasn't strong enough before, and I lost my mother because of it. I know that I probably couldn't have done anything even if I was strong enough, but…I just felt so powerless all the same. I don't want to feel like that again."

Once he had said his piece, Hope looked to his two new guardians, but neither of them said anything for a moment. Both individuals were a bit stunned by Hope's speech, Lightning more so than Spider-Man, despite the fact that neither of them really showed it for their own different reasons, but they could both tell that the kid needed them to say something to him. Peter was the first person to do so, and he started out by taking a knee and placing a hand on Hope's shoulder. "I already told you I'd get you home safe, Hope, but as far as helping you get stronger…well, I'll try to do what I can, and we'll see how that goes."

That seemed to satisfy Hope for the moment, and that just left one other person to answer him, and said person still had yet to turn around and face him yet, so it was hard to really guess what she would say. "Lightning," Hope called out, tentatively.

Lightning just kept quiet, probably thinking over what she had now learned about the kid, until she finally spoke up again, directing her next words to both Hope and Spider-Man. "Call me Light, and before you ask, no, that's not my real name."

Peter could not help but smirk a little behind his mask as he replied, "I kinda had a feeling it wasn't, but it is still a very pretty name that seems to suit you."

Lightning knew that there was a faint tinge of a blush on her cheeks the moment she heard that, and that was why she took another minute before she turned back to face the other two again. Even then, it was not until Hope asked his next question. "What's the plan from here?"

Both Lightning and Hope turned to Spider-Man, since he seemed to have been the best at coming up with plans so far, and the web-head did not disappoint them in their expectations. "First things first: we need to keep PSICOM's attention on us a little longer until we're absolutely sure that the others have gotten a safe distance away. Once we've done that, we can shake them off and head for our next destination."

"We should still keep heading for said destination as we're moving. It wouldn't do much good in the way of being a distraction if we're constantly going in circles all night, because they'll catch on to us otherwise," Lightning pointed out.

"Agreed, but we should still try to avoid making it too obvious about where we're going in order to avoid any serious future ambushes," Spider-Man nodded.

"So where should we go from here," Hope asked.

"I thought that was obvious," Spider-Man replied. "We're going to Eden."

"But we can't get to Eden without an airship or a special railway, so how do we get to either one of those things," Hope asked.

That threw Spidey for a loop, and despite his attempt to hide the fact, it still shone through. "Well…uh…We could…" the wall-crawler stuttered. When the other two switched to giving him disbelieving looks, he immediately went on the defensive and said, "Hey, don't look at me like that! I've only been in this universe for like a week. You can't seriously expect me to have learned everything about Cocoon in such a short amount of time."

"Well lucky for you, I've actually got something of a plan in mind," Lightning slightly smirked in response, somehow taking a little comfort in the fact that Spidey did not have an answer to everything. "We'll head through the Gapra Whitewood to Palumpolum. We'll find transport to Eden there."

"I live in Palumpolum. I can show you all the shortcuts," Hope excitedly exclaimed.

"No side trips," Lightning warned.

"No need," Hope humorlessly chuckled. "I don't think l'Cie are welcome at home."

"Maybe l'Cie aren't, but you definitely are," Spidey pointed out. "And besides that, we do need to make at least one stop while we're there." When the other two looked at him in confusion, Spidey went on to elaborate, "Hope, we need to stop at your home while we're there. Be it so that you can stay there while the two of us continue on, or so that you can at least talk to your father."

"We don't have time to resolve some father-son drama," Lightning angrily argued.

"It's not just for that, Light," Spider-Man snapped back in kind. He then became a little calmer and said, "It's so that Hope can tell his father about what happened to his mother."

"Do I…really need to," Hope asked. He was still not too fond of so much as seeing his father right now, but the idea of telling him, or really anyone about what happened to his mom made him extremely nervous. He hated remembering the fact that his mother was gone as it was, and while he was able to talk about it with others well enough, it was another matter entirely to have to relay such news to his father.

"Yes, Hope. You do," Spider-Man revealed. "Your dad's probably been worried sick about you and your mom ever since he heard about the Purge. He at least deserves to know about what happened, and that you're okay." Hope said nothing in response to that, but silently raised his arm up and pulled back the wristband hiding his l'Cie brand as if to remind Spider-Man of its existence. "You know what I mean," Spidey easily retorted.

As much as she wanted to argue and say that they did not have time for such trivial concerns, Lightning found she could not. She could see where Peter was coming from when he said that, and honestly, she felt the same way. Hope's father needed to know about what had happened, and since they were going to the kid's hometown anyway, it made sense for them to stop and take care of that while they were there. She understood all that sure, but that did not mean it was making her anymore agreeable about how Spider-Man was deciding on this course of action without anyone else's consent. Still, it seemed like Hope was willing to agree to that course of action, so she could tell that she was going to be outvoted on the matter, so she just huffed and said, "Fine, but that's the only thing we're doing, and only if we're able to."

Spider-Man instantly stood up and watched along with Hope as Light marched onward in a huff, both of them a little stunned by her sudden display of frustration. While Hope was a bit scared about confronting Lightning on it, he knew that it was not going to be a good idea for her to stay in such a mood for much longer; otherwise, she was likely to be pushed over the edge and lash out at whatever was closest to her. Spidey knew this to be true as well, and unlike Hope, he was willing to call her out on this, but right now was not the time to do so, what with PSICOM hit squads probably waiting for them right around the corner, figuratively and literally. For now, he just put it aside and followed after the rosette along with Hope, silently hoping that a moment to confront Light on her issues would come before she finally reached her breaking point. Of course, knowing his luck, he somehow knew that was not likely going to be the case.

* * *

The trio encountered a few more PSICOM squads and drones as they continued along their path, doing their best to travel along a way that would hopefully leave PSICOM guessing as to what their next destination would be while making sure to not go too far from a route that would lead to Palumpolum, but every time that they encountered the soldiers and machines of the anti-Pulse organization, they were able to deal with their enemies very swiftly and easily. There were a few fights here and there that Spider-Man did not even have a chance to say so much as one word of a funny remark before it was over, a fact that he actually complained about a little once or twice, much to Lightning's irritation, but Hope was not complaining about having an easy fight that was not too drawn out. In the kid's eyes, if the fight dragged on too long, their chances of being killed increased quite a bit, so having fights that were over quickly were always very appealing to him.

What was not appealing though was the fact that Lightning's foul mood only seemed to sour more and more as time went on, and not even fighting PSICOM was doing anything to calm her down by much. This was extremely worrying to both Hope and Peter, but as far as they could tell, there was not really anything either of them could do to help her at the moment. Well, Peter knew that there was something he could do to help, but it was not really something that he would consider doing right in the middle of their current situation. Still, that did not stop them from at least trying to think of something to do in order to at least distract Light from her irritation, even if only for a little while, and as such, both of their minds were running rampant in an attempt to come up with an idea that would work. At least, they were whenever they were not focused on fighting.

It was actually not until after defeating a rather large PSICOM battle machine that Hope finally thought of something that could possibly work in the way of calming Light down at least a little bit for the moment. The thing that really made it appealing though was that it would also serve the purpose of learning a little more about the red and blue clad superhero that was traveling with them at the moment. Knowing this served as all the reason he needed to race up to Spider-Man and ask him the question he had been wondering about for a while now, and which would put his idea into motion. "Hey Spidey? Would you mind telling me a little bit more about the world you came from," Hope asked.

"I'd be happy to, but that's a pretty broad topic, Hope," Peter cautioned. He knew that he could likely go on for hours about anything and everything in regards to his original world, but he did not want to distract anyone for too long in case it allowed PSICOM to get the jump on them. "Is there anything specific you want to know about? Pop culture? Politics? What major celebrity was rumored to be dating who at the time?"

Hope had to pause for a minute to think about that before he finally settled on a topic. "Well, I remember back on the airship you mentioned something about a group called the Avengers, so could you tell us a bit about them?"

Hearing that question made Peter almost stop in his tracks due to surprise, but all the same, he still smiled widely behind his mask before looking to Hope and saying, "Oh believe me, I'm more than happy to tell you about them." He then took a moment to think about the best way to word his explanation, but in the end, he decided to just wing it for the most part and began the story on said group. "Well, if you were to compare the world of superheroes in my world to sports, then the Avengers would be considered as the big leagues of superheroes. For as long as anyone can remember, no matter how the line-up of the team had changed, the Avengers have always been considered as Earth's mightiest heroes, and their purpose has always been to fight the battles that no single superhero ever could. Simply put, if you were so much as considered for at least a reserve membership with the Avengers, you had hit the big leagues in the hero life."

"So they're like a superhero special forces group or something," Lightning asked, leading Hope to smile a little at this sign that she seemed to be paying a good deal of attention to what was being said right now.

"Something like that," Spider-Man admitted with a nod. "Like I said, the line-up of Avengers has changed quite a bit over the years, with old members departing for a variety of reasons, to new members joining up, and even former members coming back. There have even been times when the team had disbanded completely, thinking that the Avengers were done, but they would always come back together again, simply because the world needed them to, and because they would always assemble when there came a day unlike any other."

"Did you ever meet any of them," Hope asked in wonder.

At this, Peter could not help but laugh a little before he took a heroic pose in front of both of his companions and dramatically announced, "I haven't just met the Avengers; I'm _one_ of the Avengers." He then deflated a little when he remembered a certain, recently learned detail, and amended, "I mean…I used to be, but I don't think my membership credentials are any good now, since everyone back on Earth thinks I'm…well, dead."

Hope and Lightning had no problem admitting that they were awestruck by the news that Spidey was actually a member of this elite team of heroes before he came to Cocoon. They knew that he was very experienced when it came to saving lives and protecting the innocent, but they had no idea it was to so great a level that he was actually made a member of such an important group. Their awe was brought down a little when Spider-Man's mood fell at the reminder that everyone back in his old home thought that he was dead, and suddenly, Hope felt a little bad for inadvertently causing Peter to remember such a thing, while Lightning had to suppress a sudden urge to try and comfort him over it. There was really no way either of them could really sympathize with Spider-Man on his situation, or relate to it, since they had no idea how to even start doing so, but that did not mean they did not wish they could at least try and do something to make him feel better.

Knowing that they needed to avert Peter's attention away from such a sad topic before it got to a certain point, Light was quick to speak up and voice the next question in regards to their original topic. "Mind telling us about the more major members of these Avengers? I mean, surely there are some that have always been around despite whatever changes the team had gone through," she reasoned.

That seemed to perk Spidey right up, and he instantly launched into his next explanation. "Well, there are a few, but out of every Avenger out there, the ones who stand out the most would be the guys who are considered as 'The Big Six.'"

"The big six," Hope asked.

"It's a weird name that some of the fans came up with for the six Avengers who are almost always on one Avengers team or another, be it together or separately," Spider-Man explained, and he then returned to what he was saying. "Those guys being Clint Barton, the master archer, Hawkeye, Natasha Romanoff, alias the master former assassin known as Black Widow, Bruce Banner and his raging alter ego, the Hulk, strongest one there is, the mighty Thor, Tony Stark, the invincible Iron Man, and Steve Rogers, aka Captain America, the first Avenger."

"Does every hero in your world have such ridiculous or strange names," Lightning asked.

"That's a matter of opinion, honestly," Peter shrugged.

"So what can all of those guys do," Hope asked. When Spidey threw him an obviously confused look, Hope elaborated, "What are their powers?"

"What makes you think they have powers," Spidey inquired.

"Well I mean, you have super powers, so doesn't that mean that guys who are part of this Avengers group have powers too," Hope reasoned.

Peter could not help but laugh a little once again before revealing, "Hate to break it to you, Hope, but only two of those guys actually have any real super powers. The rest are really just people with incredible skills, training, and/or tech."

"Really?" was the shared response that both Lightning and Hope gave to that.

"Yep," Spidey nodded. "Thor and Hulk both have super strength, and the latter gets stronger the angrier he gets, while the former is actually from a world full of ancient, powerful warriors. Not only that, but Thor also has this magic hammer, Mjolnir that allows him to fly, shoot lightning, and even throw it and bring it back to him like it's some kind of boomerang."

"So basically, as long as someone has this Mjolnir, they have amazing powers," Light asked, finding the idea of such a weapon intriguing, even if it was not what she preferred as a weapon.

"Technically, anyone who has Mjolnir has all of Thor's powers, but it's not that easy to use said hammer. The thing is very particular about who can and can't use it," Peter revealed.

"What about the others," Hope asked.

"Well, Hawkeye is an incredible marksman, especially with a bow and arrow, be it trick arrow or otherwise, and he never misses a target or a clue. Well, technically he never misses a target unless said target is me, because, ya know, Spider-Sense and agility. I always have a fun time training with him since he gets so frustrated about not being able to hit me," Spidey laughed. "Captain America was originally a twenty pound asthmatic before he was injected with a super soldier serum that enhanced his body to the ultimate peak of human physical condition, and carries a nearly indestructible shield as his primary and usually only weapon. Tony Stark…well, he's a billionaire, playboy philanthropist, who also happens to be one of the smartest men on my world, and has a high-tech suit of armor that is packed with some serious fire power."

"How serious," Lightning inquired.

"Let me put it this way: if the Sanctum saw what the Iron Man armor was capable of, they'd be drooling with envy and begging Tony to either give them the design specs or to actually build some suits like it for them." That answer left both Hope and Lightning in wide-eyed awe, and at a reasonable level of concern. If what Spider-Man said was true, then they had to hope that if anyone from Spidey's world did come over to this universe, they'd be careful enough to not let the Sanctum get their hands on anything they used. "And as for Black Widow…well, if I were to be honest, I'd say she's actually a bit like you, Light."

"Like me? How," Lightning asked in disbelief.

"Well, you were both trained from a very young age to be incredible fighters in multiple fields of combat, you both have a rather grim past, you're both able to turn the tables into your favor even when your enemies think you're at their mercy, you're both incredibly beautiful…"

"Wait, what," Light said with a start.

Spidey immediately clammed up when he realized he had actually just said that last one. He honestly had no idea why he had said that…okay, that is a lie, he did know why he said that. There is no denying that Lightning is a very beautiful woman, someone would have to have been blind not to see that, but the fact that he had actually said it at all, and while in the presence of Lightning no less, was what had thrown him for a loop. More than that, he had said it so easily, almost like he was simply stating something he had known for ages, and the fact that he had done so actually scared him a little bit. He was just really glad that his face was hidden behind his mask at the moment, because he was sure that he was blushing up a storm if the extreme heat he suddenly felt was any indication. After wondering for a minute why it suddenly felt so hot around here, he paused to ask himself why he was even getting so worked up about it. It was not like he was in love with Lightning or anything, right?

The minute that thought occurred to him, he immediately had a few flashbacks to when he was with Gwen, and how he felt every time he was around her, or even thought about her. In doing so, he was suddenly able to see that there were times that he had similar feelings when around Lightning, such as when he had given her the necklace he got her for her birthday or at that one point during their sparring session at the Guardian Corps headquarters in Bodhum. Thinking of these times, and a few others that were not quite as significant, all made Spidey suddenly pause for a minute as he came to a startling realization that he had not really noticed until now. _'Oh my god. I think I really_ am _falling in love with Lightning,'_ Peter thought. He immediately gave himself a hard, mental shake at that thought before he reasoned, _'No, that can't be. I mean, I've barely known her for more than a week, and besides…I'm probably just thinking that because of some…psychological reason. Yeah, I'm still reeling from the news that Madame Web gave me, so I'm just trying to find some kind of solace or something by fooling myself into thinking I'm falling for a woman that I've only known for a short time, simply because she helped me out a bit and became a good friend to me.'_

It was a very poor excuse even in his mind, but Peter was a little too stunned by the idea to really notice that. Still, the silence that had followed what he said before was starting to get a bit awkward, and he knew that he had to break it. "Uh, but there are some differences between you and Black Widow, Light," Peter quickly stated. "For one thing, I don't think you've ever been some kind of assassin for a terrorist group at any point in your life, because, that's how Romanoff started off before she switched sides and joined up with SHIELD and later on the Avengers."

"Were you and Black Widow ever…" Lightning hesitantly asked, not willing to actually voice the words for some reason. Hope did not say anything in addition, but only because he wanted to know Spidey's answer to the question too.

"No, we were always just friends," Peter instantly replied. "Even then, I can't really say that's an absolute guarantee. There are times when even a lot of the other heroes back home found me to be a bit irritating, and Black Widow is one of them. She's this calm, collected, always focused and stay-on-target type of person, so combine that with the fact that I don't give off the impression of being serious and tend to joke around when I'm fighting, and well, you can see why she would prefer to keep her distance most of the time."

"Are you close with any of the other Avengers though," Hope asked.

"In regards to the most recent membership, yeah, quite a few of them actually," Peter revealed, mentally sighing in relief over how they were now well past the awkward air that had previously fallen over them. "I was actually something of a protégé to Tony for a while, and Cap…well, you'd have to be crazy to not be at least respectful and friendly with that guy. I mean, he's not only the first real superhero of my world, but he set the standard for what it means to really be a hero, period. Even so, I'll never forget this one time when Cap told me that he thought that I'm even more of an inspiration to heroes than he could ever be. I'm not entirely sure how accurate such a belief is, but to hear Captain America say that really means a lot. Hulk and Thor, well those guys are always easy to get along with, the latter more so than the former. I swear, out of every hero I've ever known, Thor is the one hero that I've never managed to piss off in one way or another."

Hope and Lightning both had to snort a little after hearing that, and they then just let Spider-Man carry on as he told them about the other Avengers he was close to, making note of each name he mentioned as they walked. What surprised them was the fact that he actually mentioned so many different names as he talked about the team. There were times that they actually asked him to pause for a minute just to make sure he was only mentioning the Avengers he was close to, and every time, he would always surprise them by saying yes. The most notable names to them outside of the big six were Falcon, Wolverine, Captain Marvel, and even Wasp, who he revealed was actually a founding member of the original team of Avengers, and his list just kept going on and on. By the time he had finished talking about a guy named Daredevil they could not help but think that for someone who claimed that he preferred to be a solo hero, Spidey seemed to not mind at least being on good terms with every single hero in his world. When they told him of this belief, Spider-Man simply shrugged and said that apparently, there was now some recent belief among the newer, younger generation of heroes that having a team-up with him was now considered to be a first step in making it big as a superhero. That was a belief that both Light and Hope could easily understand.

All discussion about Spider-Man's friends from his old world were suddenly put on hold when both he and Lightning suddenly sensed trouble just ahead, and they both moved to some form of cover while motioning for Hope to do the same so that they could scope out the area ahead of them. Looking around to the area ahead, the three had to let out silent or mental sighs of relief when they saw that it was only two Trackers inspecting an apparently dead Pulse Dreadnought like the one they had fought earlier with Sazh and Vanille, and they could hear the two saying that there was no sign of the machine having been activated. Light was just reaching for her gunblade, ready to take them out when Spider-Man grabbed her arm before her fingers had even brushed the handle, much to her irritation.

"Let's hold off on doing that for a minute," Spidey said, and he immediately leapt away before Lightning or Hope could argue with him. The two then watched as Spider-Man snuck around to another point of the area, unseen by either of the trackers, and then gasped a little when they saw him snag the one closest to him with a web-line. The minute the web had latched onto its target, Spidey pulled back on it, lifted the PSICOM goon away, who barely had time to let out a small cry of surprise, and knocked said goon unconscious before making sure he was all tied up in webs.

"Who's there," the other PSICOM soldier shouted, only to start shaking in his boots when he realized he was all alone. "Uh Marty…Marty, where'd you go? Seriously man, this isn't funny?"

"Really, 'cause with how well you guys have been doing in trying to take me down, I could've sworn you were actually trying to be funny," Spider-Man quipped as he dropped down behind the still conscious PSICOM tracker. That same tracker did not stay conscious for long, as he was soon pulled over to the spider-hero and knocked out as well, before being tied down to the ground in a cocoon of webs. With both of his targets subdued, Spidey let out a quick breath and called out to his two friends, "Okay, you guys can come out now."

Lightning and Hope did just that, and while the boy had started making his way over to the Dreadnought so he could have a closer look at it, Light just glanced between the two webbed up soldiers before looking back to Spider-Man in disbelief. "You do know that the minute they wake up, they'll report in to reveal that we've been here, right," Lightning asked.

"By which point we'll be long gone, and there won't be anything they can do about it," Spidey pointed out.

"You don't know that for sure. You should've just killed them," Lightning argued.

"Uh, how about no? I don't kill if it's unnecessary," Spider-Man told the soldier.

"What about in the case of the fal'Cie we fought," Lightning reminded him.

"That was necessary. Killing these guys isn't, and unlike you and Hope, I've actually got a way to subdue them without killing them. Why are you even complaining about this now? You didn't seem to have a problem with it before."

Lightning knew Spider-Man had a point there. She had let it slide that he had not killed most of their enemies, at least in the case of the human ones like the soldiers they were fighting, but that was then, and they were in a different situation at that time. Even though she did not like it, she still had to make that point clear to him. "We were traveling in a larger group back then, and besides that, we can't afford to show mercy right now. If we don't finish them, they'll finish us, and they won't have a problem doing it."

"I know that, but if we sink to their level, then we'll be no better than them," Spider-Man continued to insist.

The fact that Spidey was arguing with her on the matter was starting to get Light's temper flaring again, and Hope could see that without even looking away from what he was doing. Thinking quickly, he immediately jumped to the first topic he could think of to prevent their argument from going any further, in case it caused Lightning's bad mood to reach its breaking point, and asked, "What do you guys think PSICOM was even doing here, anyway?"

The two brought their argument to a hard stop when they heard Hope's question, and gave each other unsure, silent looks before turning back to the kid so that they could think of an answer to his question. "Probably thought we'd try and use a Pulse machine to escape," Lightning offered, having already suspected that was the answer long before Hope had even asked about it.

"Well they'll probably be throwing a party the minute they find out that isn't likely to be the case anytime soon. The only thing we've been able to do with _any_ of these hunks of metal from Pulse is break 'em or fight 'em, which leads to us breaking them," Spider-Man scoffed. In his eyes, there was no way that they would be able to use any of the Pulse devices they had found so far to get away, and trying to do so was a little too crazy for his liking, so he figured why risk it?

"Maybe we should try it," Hope suggested, going against that very notion mere seconds after Spidey had spoken up, and he was soon examining the Dreadnought a little more closely than before, looking for some way to make it work for them. "What does this do," Hope muttered once he spotted something that might be useful.

"Hey, you're gonna hurt yourself! Don't touch that," Lightning shouted to Hope, trying to get him to leave the machine alone before he did something that would backfire on all three of them.

"Wait. What if it works," Hope pointed out as he started climbing on top of the machine.

"Leave it!"

"Seriously Hope, this is not the time to be messing around with strange machines, and you definitely don't go messing around with a strange machine that's similar to one that was trying to kill you a short time ago," Spider-Man cautioned, showing that he was in agreement with Lightning. He could still well remember a few times back in his universe when the Fantastic Four had to deal with a major problem because someone (usually Human Torch) was messing with something that they should not have been.

Unfortunately, Hope did not heed either of the two's warnings, and a second later, he had stumbled upon the controls to activate the Dreadnought, making it stand up and move forward with Hope scrambling to hold on to something as it walked forward. "Tch, I told you to leave it," Lightning muttered.

"That's what you're most concerned about right now," Spider-Man shouted incredulously, turning away as the machine continued to march towards them. As a result of not paying attention to Hope's new toy, he did not realize that it had been swinging an arm towards him until after Lightning had pushed him out of the way.

"That makes us even again at four to four," Lightning informed Peter as they stood up again, earning inaudible grumbles from the web-head as they did.

"Stop! Stop already," Hope shouted as he scrambled to get control, doubling his efforts after seeing what he almost did to Spider-Man. A minute later, the machine came to a halt, almost as though it had actually listened to what he had said, and it then let off steam like a steam engine as it raised its arms up, showing that it was ready for work, earning an excited smile from Hope when it did. "Hey Light! Spidey! I think I can work this!"

Light raised a skeptical eyebrow at Hope before turning to where they needed to head, only to find a large wall of fused metal blocking the path. Spider-Man did almost exactly the same as the soldier, but then turned back to Hope, indicated the wall, and asked, "How about we test that out just to be sure?"

Catching on to what Spider-Man was thinking, Hope smirked in excitement and maneuvered the Dreadnought over to the wall, shouting for the other two to stand clear as he did. Once Lightning and Spider-Man were out of the way, he had the Dreadnought rear an arm back, and then slammed it into the large slab of metal, changing it from a wall to a bridge an instant after it had struck. Seeing he was successful in his test, Hope grinned and moved the machine onward, fully intending to use it in whatever way that could help in clearing their path forward, be it opening up more routes forward or attacking an enemy that dared to come after them. When he saw Hope send a group of PSICOM forces flying with just one punch from the Dreadnought, Spidey could not help but laugh a little while cheering in approval for the boy, and he was soon following after him along with Lightning. The only downside to this was that Lightning did not seem as approving of all this as her web-swinging companion was.

"Why the hell are you encouraging him," Lightning demanded of the web-swinger, even after she saw Hope bash down another wall in their way, along with several PSICOM soldiers and Pulse robots. She may not have too much of a problem with Hope using this thing to clear their path forward, but the fact that the kid barely knew what he was doing in the way of the Dreadnought's operations was a serious concern for her.

"Hey, the kid isn't exactly the most optimistic person in the way of his own abilities, so why put him down when all he needs is a little positive reinforcement. It actually does go a long way if you actually give it a try Miss Punch-First," Spider-Man reasoned, and he then moved on ahead to try and keep up with Hope and the Dreadnought, which was proving to be a bit faster than its slow walking pace had originally lead him to believe. Doing so meant that he just missed the small glare that Lightning was burning into his back, but if he had seen it, he probably would have felt several chills run up his spine.

Hope did not really seem to hear or even notice the exchange between Light and Spidey, though that was partly because he was enjoying the fact that he was able to actually deal out some serious pain to PSICOM now. The other part of it was because he was doing his best to make sure he did not fall off of the Dreadnought, and that he did not accidentally direct it along a path that it could not get over. This was fairly easy for a short time, as the Dreadnought was actually able to make small jumps when necessary, and for the most part, they did not happen upon any large drops that would probably have been too much for the machine to take. More than that, anything that the enemies they came across threw at the Dreadnought seemed to just bounce harmlessly off its armor, and anyone that was not sent flying by the Dreadnought's attacks just ended up getting trampled underfoot, much to Lightning and Spider-Man's relief. Less work for them when it came to taking care of the guys that Hope would occasionally miss, and not once did any of their enemies ever seem to take notice of the fact that Hope was just sitting on top of the machine with absolutely no protection at all. It really seemed like they had hit quite the stroke of good luck, but as everyone knows, all good things eventually come to an end.

This rather good run finally met its own end when Hope accidentally walked the Dreadnought a little too close to the edge of a small cliff, and the machine soon lost its footing after slipping over said edge, sending both it and its rider tumbling to the hard ground beneath it. "Nice landing," Lightning commented as she jumped down to where Hope had landed next to the machine.

Spider-Man on the other hand was much more concerned for the kid, and showed it by running over to check on Hope the second his feet had touched the ground. "You okay, Hope," Spidey asked as he helped the silver-haired boy to his feet.

"Still a bit winded, but yeah, I think so. Just need a minute," Hope groaned as he slowly stood up with Spider-Man's assistance.

"You're too soft," Lightning grumbled as she turned and started stomping away once again. "Let's get moving."

"Hey, hold on a minute! You can at least wait for Hope to get his breath back before egging us all onward," Spider-Man tried to protest.

"I thought the idea was to get PSICOM's attention centered on us for a while. Well guess what, that little stunt just now has likely guaranteed that they'll be focusing completely on us for a good long time, so unless you want to get ambushed, we need to move now," Lightning snapped, and you could tell that she was leaving little room to argue.

Even so, Spider-Man was willing to at least try until Hope grabbed his arm and said, "Don't worry, Spidey. I'll be fine, really."

Spider-Man was not sure how much he believed that, given that Hope still looked pretty wiped out despite his words, but if the kid thought he could keep going, then he was not going to stand in his way. With that settled, the group moved on, with Hope only pausing to check to make sure there was no chance of using the Dreadnought anymore, not that Peter was planning on letting him if it was. That thing had clearly zapped a lot of Hope's energy, and there was no way Spidey was going to let the kid drive it again in his current condition if it always did something like that to someone who piloted it. Thankfully, the machine was indeed wrecked beyond further use, but that did not stop Hope wishing that they found another one sometime soon. Peter on the other hand was of a much different mindset, because the next time they found a Dreadnought, he was sure that they would end up fighting against it again.

* * *

Just about all of the work that Hope and Peter had put in to improve Lightning's mood had pretty much been all for nothing after the former had went messing around with the Dreadnought, and as they pressed on through the Vile Peaks, it seemed to only get worse and worse. The previously effective outlet of fighting PSICOM soldiers and Pulse machines was now officially serving to drive her further up the wall, mostly because she spent a good deal of time trying to save Hope, who was much more winded from his unexpected joyride than he claimed or even believed to be. Sure, Peter was doing a lot to help with that, but it honestly seemed to Lightning that she was doing more of the work in protecting the kid than the wall-crawler was. Add in the fact that they were not going at what she considered to be an ideal pace due to Hope's weakened state, along with how Peter was making it a point to slow down his own pace just to make sure Hope was able to keep up with them, and Lightning's bad mood really found no other way to go but up in its intensity.

With her attitude not showing any signs of improvement, the chances of Lightning finally hitting her limits before someone could do something to help her calm down were only increasing every second. That moment when her limit was hit finally came when they reached a bridge, and Hope did not notice a particularly large step on it until after he had tripped over it, prompting Peter to rush over to his aid once again. "This isn't working," Lightning announced, surprising both boys when she did. "I mean, you're both liabilities. Hope's just going to slow me down, and with the way you've been lately, you're not any better, Web-Head."

"What," Hope exclaimed in panic while Peter was left surprised that the kid was able to jump up to his feet so quickly this time.

"I'm sorry, kid, but I can't protect you when…URG," Lightning started to say, only to grunt loudly when a searing pain suddenly hit her in her chest, right where her brand was.

"You can't leave me here! You've gotta take me with you," Hope protested, ignorant of Lightning's obvious state.

"Enough," Lightning shouted, causing the kid to step back in shock, and silencing Peter before he could say anything. "The whole world is against us! I can barely keep myself alive, let alone some helpless kid and an overgrown man-child," Lightning shouted, even as she fell to one knee in an attempt to keep this sudden wave of pain at bay. "I don't have time to baby you, Hope. You wanna get tough? Do it on your own!"

"And here I thought you were better than that," Spider-Man snapped, suddenly not caring if something was wrong with Lightning or not, because she was just going too far in his book. "You want to just abandon Hope out here, all on his own, in a place where soldiers are hunting Pulse l'Cie, and say to hell with it? I don't care if you are still hurt from what happened to Serah, that's no excuse to abandon a friend who needs your help!"

"JUST SHUT UP, PETER," Lightning screamed, accidentally letting Spider-Man's real name slip out without realizing it. "You're not exactly any better! Your naïve attitude and constant joking around, talking, insistence on not killing anyone who attacks us, and basically acting like all this is some sick, twisted game isn't exactly helping our situation either! You think that any of us really care about how great your old world was? Newsflash, we don't! That's long gone, and this isn't your precious Earth or whatever it is you called your world! If you wanna go off and preach on and on about how great your old life was, relive your old glory days, and pretend like everything's going to be okay then go do it somewhere else, because I don't need it! More importantly, I DON'T NEED YOU!"

In another time and place, Spidey would have felt very hurt by what Lightning had just said to him. Sure, he was often called things like menace or threat by the Daily Bugle, and even irritating and annoying by some of his fellow heroes back on Earth, but for the most part, it all just rolled over him like it was nothing. Like he had said earlier on, he had long since gotten used to those kinds of things, but for some reason, this was different. When Lightning had said all of that just now, he honestly felt like she had just driven a knife into him or something. Sure, she might have been lashing out because she was hurting at the moment, but that did not stop him from feeling the hurt he felt in response to her words. Thankfully, while it may have hurt, he was able to keep it at bay for the moment, because right now, hurt feelings were the least of their problems.

The minute that Lightning had finished ranting, a massive, bright pink light erupted from beneath her feet, while a large pentagram of some kind formed on the ground around her. Sensing that something very dangerous was likely coming, Lightning instantly dashed out of the way as fast as she could only mildly noting how the pain in her chest from before was subsiding a little. When she made it to the other side of the bridge, she looked back to see a massive giant standing between her and the two on the opposite side of the bridge, and even from its back, Lightning could tell that it was glaring down at Spider-Man and Hope somehow. If the trio had to give it any kind of description, they would have to say that this being looked relatively similar to a knight, emphasized by the fact that it carried a double-bladed sword and shield, while a cape waved in the wind on the right side of its back. The figure also seemed to possess long white hair, which extended out of the back of its helmet, while its armor was mostly white with black and gold detailing.

Looking up at the being before her, Lightning could only stare in shock for a minute before she grumbled, "This can _not_ be happening."

"Uh Hope, is this something that's normal for a l'Cie," Spider-Man shakily asked. He was still a bit hurt by what Lightning had said, but at the same time, he was also a bit nervous about how the giant before them was glaring down at them like they were its enemies or disgusting bugs it intended to crush beneath its boots. The latter reason for his nervousness was because for some reason, despite its glare, the being was not setting off his Spider-Sense at all, and that likely spelled bad news!

"I think so," Hope stuttered, honestly much more freaked out than Spidey was at the moment. His worries soon multiplied when the being before them suddenly swiped its shield at them, prompting Spider-Man to jump over and push Hope out of the way before he was hit.

Turning around, Spider-Man was greeted by the sight of the giant raising its sword to strike at them, and reacting on instinct, he pushed Hope aside before jumping in the other direction, leaving the sword to hit nothing but the ground where they once were. Spider-Man was now definitely worried, because his Spider-Sense did not react at all to warn him of the attack before it came, and the only reason he was able to dodge the next few slashes that were sent at him was because he was facing the giant directly. That did not mean he was not going to at least try and fight it, if for no other reason than to keep its attention off of Hope at the very least. He would have been a little more concerned about Lightning, but since this thing had not tried to attack her yet, he had to assume it had little interest in her, so he instead focused on keeping its attention off Hope while trying to pelt it with web-bullets and Impact Webbing as he did his best to avoid getting cut in half by the massive double-bladed sword.

Hope had taken cover after Spidey had pushed him out of the way, but still used Libra to try and learn about the web-head's current opponent along with said enemy's weaknesses. Once he had used said ability, Hope shouted, "Spider-Man, this guy's called Odin! Aside from his sword attacks, he uses a lot of lightning-based attacks!"

"Good to know," Spider-Man called back as he back flipped away from what could have been a particularly deadly sword slice, while simultaneously griping about how he never thought he would be fighting something that shared a name with Thor's father. "What about its weaknesses?"

"None that I can see," Hope hesitantly admitted.

"Great. A fight that I tended to avoid with a passion back home, and yet somehow, I'm still dragged into fighting Odin," Spider-Man grumbled as he ducked under the shield, only to quickly spin to one side in order to avoid a sudden shower of lightning bolts that Odin released onto him. Sadly, his evasion left him wide open for Odin to hit him with the blunt side of his sword, and Spider-Man was sent flying into the nearby cliff face. Both the blow of the attack and his impact with the rock wall hurt like hell, but Spider-Man had been dealt worse injury, so he still managed to stand up again, albeit a little shakily before glaring up at Odin and asking, "Is that all you've got? I've beaten guys bigger and stronger than you before…well, maybe not that many in the case of being bigger, but definitely when it comes to guys who…HOLY WEBSNAPPERS!"

Spider-Man's boasting had been cut short due to the fact that he just narrowly avoided being sliced in half once again. When he leapt into the air this time though, he fired off a web-line so that he could pull himself into striking range of the titan, and he made sure that his punch was packing every ounce of strength he currently had. It did little good, as his fist merely impacted against Odin's large shield, releasing an echoing clang when he struck. Spider-Man did not let that deter him for long, as he brought his feet forward to push back off of the shield, sending Odin skidding back a little while he was able to back flip through the air and put some distance between them. That distance did not remain for long, as Odin immediately leapt forward at a surprising speed and unleashed a spinning slash that sent the web-head flying when it hit, and if it were not for what protection his suit provided, Spider-Man was sure that the attack would likely have dealt him a very critical injury. Still, it did not prevent said hit from hurting a lot, and as a result, Spider-Man was unable to focus enough to prevent himself from landing on his feet when he hit the ground again, resulting in even further injury to his person.

Seeing Spider-Man getting hit so easily quickly told Lightning that something was wrong, and yet, for some reason, she found herself unable to really move to do anything to help. It was almost as though she had been frozen in place ever since the fight had started, leaving her unable to do anything but watch as Spider-Man tried to fight against this titan that she heard Hope call Odin. When she saw Spidey roll across the ground after being hit by that last attack, likely suffering a severe injury as a result, she started to worry a little more, because she knew that Spider-Man should have at least been able to dodge some part of that attack. What made things worse was that he did not seem to be getting up and Odin was slowly walking towards the web-swinger, intent on finishing his opponent for good.

Seeing the massive being that had just appeared before them approaching Spider-Man in such a manner was what served to finally knock Lightning out of her trance, but only to the point where she was only able to shout in near panic, "Spider-Man get up! He's going to kill you if you don't get up now! Peter, please get up!" Despite her pleas though, Spider-Man was not able to rise from the ground all that quickly, if at all, and now, Odin was just a mere few feet away from him, ready to strike the killing blow. This time, it was Lightning who reacted on instinct, as she ran as fast as she could, and intercepted Odin's sword with her gunblade just seconds before it had struck Peter. After glancing back to confirm that the attack had not slipped through in the slightest bit, Lightning looked back up at Odin with a heated glare and growled, "Don't you _dare_ hurt my friend!"

With that shout of declaration, Lightning managed to shove the massive blade back, leaping back a bit once she had, and quickly used a few healing spells of her own to try and get Peter back on his feet again, at least to the point where he could move to safety. She was not really sure how she was suddenly able to use healing magic, but at the moment, she did not care. All that mattered to her right now was getting Peter well enough so he could at least move. Somehow, she managed to accomplish that task just in time to intercept Odin's next strike against her, and she only watched for a few seconds as Peter moved out of the way at a much slower pace than he normally possessed before she pushed Odin back once again. Lightning then cast a few quick Thunder spells of her own, but Odin did not really seem to be slowed down by them at all, and instead just split his sword into two blades that he attempted to use to try and cleave Lightning in half.

Odin's attempt failed, thanks in large part to a sudden barrage of web-bullets and a well-timed boomerang throw from both Spider-Man and Hope, and Lightning was thus able to charge in and start chipping away at the titan's impressive armor. Even though she did seem to deal some damage, Odin did not seem to stagger in the slightest, and was thus able to bash Lightning aside with his shield, prompting Hope to send a healing spell Lightning's way while Spider-Man fired off a round of Impact Webbing. The web-head's efforts drew Odin's attention back to him and Hope, and as a result, neither of the two were able to react fast enough to avoid being blasted aside by the titan's massive blade. Seeing the two hit like that prompted Lightning to send out another round of healing spells that would at least keep them on their feet for the moment, but sadly, that was all she could manage, because in their current states, there was no way that Hope or Spider-Man could really keep fighting in this battle.

Odin must have recognized this, as he advanced on to strike at the two again, leading Lightning to charge forward and place herself between the titan and her two companions. "I said I won't let you hurt them! If you even want to lay so much as another finger on either of them, you'll have to kill me first," Lightning shouted up at the titan. Odin seemed to pause for a moment in his steps, but slowly resumed walking forward even as Lightning defiantly glared up at him. He did not stop again until Lightning raised her gunblade at him and shouted out, "ODIN!"

Hearing this brave woman shout his name like this brought the massive knight to a standstill, until he suddenly raised his sword up again, making the three think that he was planning to attack once again. They were left a bit surprised when they saw Odin stab the large blade into the ground before Lightning and then take a knee before her, almost as though he were bowing to her. The next thing that happened was something that only Lightning knew of, as she felt as though she heard someone speaking to her in her mind. She could only assume that it was Odin, as the voice stated, **_"I now live to serve and fight by your side, my fellow knight and master."_**

Having been the only one who heard that proclamation, Lightning ended up leaving both Hope and Spider-Man a little confused when she suddenly lowered her gunblade and nodded to Odin, but surprise soon took the place of confusion as Odin suddenly leapt into the air and transformed into a majestic white horse, which galloped down from the sky before lifting his previously dropped blade up into its mouth and then disappearing again into a small, pink rose-shaped crystal. After the crystal had floated over to Lightning's waiting hand, it then seemed to implant itself inside of her l'Cie brand and then disappear, leaving Lightning feeling as though she had just fought several battles back-to-back with absolutely no rest, and a result, she quickly fell down to one knee again, panting hard and dropping her gunblade when she did.

"Lightning," Hope cried out in worry, while Spider-Man just stood up as straight as he could and looked on as the boy checked to make sure the rosette was okay. In his brief analysis, Hope noticed that an image Lightning's brand was appearing over where she had been marked, and he could not help but notice how it now had more arrows on it than his did. "You're brand looks…different," Hope informed Lightning after comparing their brands one last time. "Was that an Eidolen? Like l'Cie can summon?"

"Uh, back up a minute. What the heck is an Idoler," Spider-Man asked, his voice surprisingly even for him.

"Eidolon," Hope corrected. "No one really knows what they are, but it's said that they would only appear before certain l'Cie when they became lost and forced into a Focus against their will. Some say that they were created as emissaries to the visible world by the goddess Etro, and that their spirits are locked away in crystals."

"Tch, magic and mumbo-jumbo," Lightning suddenly grumbled, diverting all attention back to her again as she got her breath back. "I must've hit my head on that Purge train."

"Uh…yeah, that…That must've been what happened," Spider-Man said, feeling a little hesitant about talking to Lightning at the moment.

Hope on the other hand was feeling a little braver than Spidey was at the moment, but still asked his question with a bit of hesitancy. "Um…Am I really in your way?" The only response he got from Lightning when he asked that was a small sigh from the rose-haired woman as she stood up again, holstered her gunblade after retrieving it from where it had been dropped, and then started to walk back across the bridge again, making Hope think that she was still planning on leaving them behind. "I'll do better! I'll try harder, I'll…"

"Hope," Lightning interrupted before the boy could get much further, coming to a stop when she did. She then glanced back at him over her shoulder and finally said, "We'll toughen you up." When Hope let out a quiet gasp of surprise, Lightning went on to add, "I'm sorry…about before."

That caused Spider-Man to blink in surprise, wondering if he had heard right, because from what he had seen so far, Lightning did not seem like the type to apologize so easily. It did not seem to bother Hope too much, as his face displayed how his mood had brightened up like a Christmas lights contest. Seeing Hope cheer up like that did make Peter feel a little better, but he then remembered what Lightning had said to him before, and his spirits dropped quite a bit as he allowed himself to really feel the full effect of the hurt she had dealt him at that moment. It honestly baffled him a little as to why he was getting so worked up over some harsh words like that, especially since Lightning obviously was not in her right state of mind when she said them, but regardless of that, the fact of the matter was that those things had been said. He was honestly not sure what to think now at this point. Were all of his efforts to be a friend to Lightning really backfiring so spectacularly, or had she only said that because she needed a target for her anger? If it was the latter case, then why did he end up being the target that she chose? All these questions were plaguing his mind like crazy, and they almost prevented him from noticing that Lightning and Hope had started to get a little ahead of him had it not been for Hope trying to get his attention about something.

"What's up, Hope," Spidey asked in as chipper of a tone as he could manage.

"Well…um…" Hope stuttered, not really sure how to voice his question. In the end, he decided to just be completely blunt about it. "Your name's Peter?"

That caused both Spider-Man and Lightning to freeze in shock a little, since in all the chaos that had just been unleashed they had nearly forgotten that Lightning had called the web-head that in the heat of the moment, and naturally, that meant Hope had heard her do so. Upon remembering this, Lightning was also quickly assaulted with the memory of the other things she had said in regards to Peter, and quickly looked down with a remorseful look on her face. Spider-Man on the other hand seemed to take the suddenness of Hope's question in stride, at least as best as he could, and merely sighed before saying, "Yeah. My real name's Peter."

"Sorry about that," Lightning muttered to the web-head just loud enough to be heard.

"Don't sweat it, Lightning. The kid would've found out eventually anyway, so long as he's traveling with us, so might as well get it out of the way now," Spider-Man reassured her as best as he could, but it did not quite work, because Lightning could still hear a bit of hurt in his voice as he spoke to her. The fact that he called her "Lightning" as opposed to either "Light" or a name that would be his next attempt at guessing her real name only made her more concerned than she probably should have been. Spidey did not seem to acknowledge the fact she had noticed this and returned his attention to Hope as he said, "If we're not in the middle of a fight or out where anyone can overhear, you can call me Peter if you want."

Hope seemed to think on this for a minute before he said, "I appreciate that, but if it's alright with you, I think I'd rather wait until I finally see your face, assuming that ever happens."

Peter could only smile at Hope from behind his mask, before he said, "Yeah, that's totally cool. And don't worry. Like Lightning said, we'll be sure to toughen you up in no time."

"Thanks Spidey," Hope nodded in thanks, and with that, he raced on ahead, now clearly back to his usual reserves of energy, with Lightning and Spider-Man following after him. Although, there was now a very distinct air of awkwardness and hesitancy between the two oldest members of the trio, and neither of said two were all that sure on what they should do about it now. At least for the moment.

* * *

After the trio's departure from the bridge, Hope was the only one who remained positive in even the smallest possible manner, while Lightning and Peter were both barely able to glance at each other for more than a few seconds before turning away again. The kid was mostly ignorant of it at first, only noticing it every now and again, but eventually, he could not help but take note of it more seriously. The first moment he did was in one of the first battles that they had with PSICOM after the incident at the bridge, and as he watched them fight, he could not help but notice that the teamwork and synergy that was once held between Lightning and Spider-Man was not quite all there. That was not to say that it had become nonexistent, they were still able to pull together and work as a team when it was necessary, but it was so rare that you would think that they had only been fighting side-by-side for a few seconds as opposed to the actual amount of time that they had been doing so. It had him worried, sure, but thankfully, it did not seem to be affecting them to the point where it would have ended up being extremely detrimental to their situation.

Aside from that one little hiccup, there was no denying that they now had PSICOM's full attention on them, and now they just had to get rid of it. That opportunity came at the same moment as when Lightning got to test out the fighting abilities of Odin when he was actually on their side. It had began when the three found themselves caught in a PSICOM ambush once again, soldiers and mechs everywhere they turned, and in keeping to their strategy thus far, the trio of Lightning, Hope, and Spider-Man were more than ready to take them on despite the overwhelming odds. Part way through, there came a point when it seemed as though they were backed into a corner, and it was at this point that Lightning decided to take a chance and call upon the magic and mumbo-jumbo that she had previously been so opposed to using by summoning out Odin. Spider-Man was very against this at first, seeing as the last time Odin appeared before them, the Eidolon had tried to kill him, Hope, and Lightning, but Lightning was confident that it would not be the case this time, and an instant later, the crystal rose that Odin had disappeared into before appeared from her brand as she called out his name. After Lightning tossed the crystal up and shattered it in midair, Odin had appeared in a shower of rose petals, and almost immediately after he and Lightning had both landed, they both assumed a nearly identical battle stance and charged into battle together, much to Hope and Spider-Man's surprise.

What followed after was nothing short of incredible, as Odin and Lightning fought back against PSICOM in a way that Spider-Man could most closely associate to that of Giant-Man and Wasp back in their earlier days of being a team, only with a few extra lightning bolts and sword slashes being thrown around. The fact that the powerful attacks Odin had previously unleashed against them were now being used to help them in fighting their enemies only made things all the more better for them. Things only became even more incredible when Odin transformed into his horse-form once again, but this time around, instead of disappearing, he galloped over to where Lightning was standing, after retrieving the dropped, double-bladed sword, and allowed the former soldier to climb onto his back, and an instant later, Spider-Man and Hope could only stare in awe as they watched Lightning become like a knight in shining armor riding into battle on a mighty stead. Fighting with Odin in this manner had then allowed Lightning to take the reins on the Eidolon's power, as evidenced by the fact that she had become able to utilize a variety of powerful attacks that the Eidolon had previously been using on its own, only with her directing where they would be sent. Be it through a variety of lightning infused attacks, or even a mighty leaping-strike that took out a small squadron of soldiers along with an Uhlan mech, it was clear that the combined power of Lightning and Odin was nothing to sneeze at. To finish up their combined assault, Lightning directed Odin skyward once more before she leapt from his back and spun around with the massive blade separated into two swords as a shower of rose petals fell around them both while a hurricane of slashes seemed to be unleashed on everything and anything in her vicinity. When Lightning landed on the ground again, she quickly recombined the swords into one and handed it back to Odin, feeling that the Eidolon's power had now worn off and that there was nothing more it could do in this fight.

Even though Odin had helped to make the fight much shorter by taking out many of their opposition, there were still a few PSICOM soldiers left along with one very weakened and battered Uhlan to deal with. Lightning was more than ready to deal with them, but just as she had pulled her gunblade out of its holster, Hope's boomerang came flying out of nowhere and knocked out at least three of the remaining soldiers at once, while a barrage of web-bullets actually managed to finish off the Uhlan mech. Turning to where said attacks had come from allowed Lightning to see Hope catch his boomerang on its return trip just as he was unleashing a few fire spells, while Spider-Man over her head to knock out the last few soldiers with a solid series of punches, kicks, and webbing. When the two were finished, they had effectively brought the fight to an end, and Spider-Man only turned to Lightning as he said, "You didn't think we were just going to sit back the whole time, did you Lightning?"

Even though he was clearly attempting to joke about it, Lightning could still hear a strain in his voice that indicated that he was still having a hard time directly facing her, which was only reinforced by the fact that his head had turned in a direction that indicated he was facing the ground near her instead of facing her directly. After dealing with this for so long, Lightning was not entirely sure if she should feel ashamed of the fact that she had caused this change in Spider-Man's behavior towards her, or if she should feel angry that he was acting this way at all in regards to her. Before she could really comment on it, their attention was diverted once again, this time by Hope's hunched over form as he panted heavily, showing that the day's events were finally catching up with the kid, and leaving him too exhausted to keep traveling any longer.

"We'll stop here," Lightning instantly announced after seeing that, surprising Spidey a little when she did. Not that he was not planning on suggesting that they stop for the night too, he was just surprised that Lightning of all people had beaten him to the punch.

 _'Guess that little face-off with Odin must've knocked a bit of sense into her,'_ Peter joked to himself. _'…Man it is weird to say that and not instantly think of Thor's dad who would likely kick all of our butts if we ever tried to fight him like we did that Eidolon.'_

"Sorry," Hope panted as he slowly collapsed against a few of the small boulders.

"Don't sweat it," Lightning reassured him as soothingly as she could manage. "I'll look around. You rest up."

Hope barely managed a nod in response to this, prompting Lightning to turn her attention to her other traveling companion to see what he would do. "I'll uh…I'll stay with Hope until you get back," Spider-Man hesitantly stated as he seated himself on the side of a cliff like he often did in various circumstances and places.

As much as she wanted to insist that he come with her, Lightning knew that Hope was probably going to need Spider-Man around him a lot more than she would, even if the two of them did need to have a talk about what had happened before, so she nodded in agreement with his decision and headed off to do a brief check of the area to make sure that they were indeed clear of any enemies for the moment. Her brief patrol did not last very long though, as she had returned to their impromptu camping ground almost five minutes later, only to find Spider-Man still sitting on the rock wall he had been on when she left. Spidey seemed to sense her presence when she walked over, as he quickly placed a finger to his lips to signal for quiet before pointing to where Hope was. Turning to the boy, Lightning could not help sigh in relief upon seeing Hope resting as peacefully as one could when their bed was made of rocks.

"He fell asleep almost two minutes after you left, and he's been sleeping like a baby ever since," Peter softly informed Lightning.

"That's good," Lightning nodded in response. She then shuffled on her feet a little before she decided to get right to the point of what they had to do to deal with the awkward air between them. "Spider-Man…Peter, can we talk for a minute?"

"Uh…sure, I guess," Peter nodded, a little surprised that Lightning was actually asking him if they could talk, while also hesitant about what said conversation would entail. Feeling that said conversation would probably lead to more shouting, Lightning quickly lead Peter a reasonable distance away from the sleeping boy so that they would not easily wake him up but still be able to keep a close eye on him just in case. "So, is everything okay," Peter asked.

"No, it's really not, and I'm sure you already know why," Lightning confessed, getting right to the point of the matter, even as she rubbed one arm nervously. "Peter…I'm sorry about what I said before. I mean, yes I was frustrated with hearing you joke around the way you were and over how you were fighting any PSICOM enemies we encountered, but that was no reason to lash out at you like that, or to say some of the things I did."

"Hey, it's no big deal. Like I've said before, I'm used to that kind of treatment from others," Peter tried to wave off, but Lightning was not going to have any of it.

"I don't believe that. I can tell that what I said really did hurt you, and I know that sorry is probably never going to be enough to cut it, but still, I am sorry," Lightning protested, apologizing as profusely as she could. "You've already done so much to help me, even before this whole l'Cie mess had started, and if it weren't for you, I probably would've abandoned Hope or worse long before now. Not only that, but I probably would still be planning on destroying the Sanctum and Eden if you hadn't talked some sense into me, while also slapping it into me."

"Yeah…sorry about that. I don't know what had gotten into me there," Peter said, taking a turn to apologize.

"Don't be. I deserved it," Lightning admitted. "What I don't deserve…is someone like you as a friend, because the truth is…I do need you. Maybe a lot more than I'd care to admit."

Peter was shocked to hear that, and this time, when he turned to Lightning, he looked her directly in the eye and saw that she was being completely serious about this. Despite what others would say, there was indeed a deep sense of desperation in Lightning's eyes, begging him to forgive her for what she had said and done to him earlier, and if he did not know better, Peter could have sworn that Lightning was almost on the verge of tears waiting for him to say something to her. Peter always hated to see a woman looking so vulnerable, especially in the case of women like Lightning, and so, he just reacted and pulled her in for a tight hug, much to the former soldier's surprise. He half expected Lightning to shove him off and slug him for that, so you could imagine how pleasantly surprised he was when instead, Lightning actually returned said hug by wrapping her arms around him as tightly as she could.

"Hey, you don't need to worry about it, all right? I meant what I said the other day when I told you that you could count on me to help if you ever needed anything," Spider-Man soothed Lightning as he felt her start to tremble a little in his arms, prompting him to rub circles into her back as a way of helping her deal with it. "Trust me, it's gonna take a lot more than some words spoken in anger to scare me off, so you're stuck with me, okay?"

Lightning could only nod as the day's events started to catch up with her too, and she eventually found herself letting her walls down enough for her to start shedding a few tears over what had happened to her, to Serah, and to her friend that she was currently holding onto as she cried into his shoulder. She was grateful that Peter did not say anything other than telling her to just let it all out, and when she finally felt like she had gotten it out of her system, Light finally released him from the hug and stepped back. When she felt a slight wetness on her face, she knew that she still had the remains of some tears present there, and she quickly used her glove to wipe them away. "Thanks for that," Lightning quietly said.

"Don't mention it," Peter shrugged. "Is there anything else?"

"Actually, yeah," Lightning admitted, her expression hardening a little. "When you were fighting against Odin earlier, you seemed to take a few more hits than you normally do. At first I thought you were just being careless or were more concerned for keeping his attention on you and off the rest of us, but even then, with your Spider-Sense, he shouldn't have been able to hit you as often and as hard as he did. Any reason why?"

Peter was glad that he still had his mask on right now, because Lightning would have instantly known by the expression on his face that he was panicking a little on the inside. "Uh, well, there have been times when an opponent was too fast for my Spider-Sense to be able to keep up, so…" Peter tried to say.

"Odin may be powerful and fast, but given how fast I've seen you react, along with how you're able to dodge bullets, I doubt he's that fast," Lightning instantly pointed out, having already picked up on the idea that he might have been hiding something.

"Well, maybe it has something to do with the fact that he was created by Etro, you know? I mean, if I can't become a l'Cie, then wouldn't that mean that beings summoned by l'Cie would be invisible to my Spider-Sense or something," Peter quickly rushed out, though he had a feeling that Lightning would not buy that either.

That feeling proved true, as an instant later Lightning stated, "I don't buy that for a minute. You think there's another reason, don't you? Just tell me what it is."

"Look, there is no other reason. That's really the best I've got," Peter insisted, but the fact that he turned away from Lightning when he did told her otherwise.

Lightning did not let Peter's back stay to her for long, because she was instantly running around to stand in front of him again, leveling him with a small glare as she all but demanded, "Tell me why you think Odin was able to get past your Spider-Sense, now."

Seeing that there was no way she was going to let this go, Peter finally admitted, "I think…it might be because he's _your_ Eidolon."

That answer had just served to leave Lightning even more confused than before, and she made that point clear when she asked, "What the hell would that even have to do with anything?"

"It just does," Peter said.

"Why?"

"BECAUSE YOU DON'T SET OFF MY SPIDER-SENSE, OKAY?!" Silence fell over the area the minute that had slipped out of Peter's mouth, and while Lightning just stared at him in stunned disbelief, Peter could only slap his hands over his big mouth when he realized he had let it slip.

"W-what…did you say," Lightning hesitantly asked.

There was no sense in hiding it now, so Peter just dropped his hands down, sighed in defeat and repeated, "You don't set off my Spider-Sense. Like, at all. Not when we first met when you punched me, not at any point during our little sparring session the other day, and not any point ever since we met."

Lightning did not know what to do with this new information. The idea that Peter's Spider-Sense did not register her as a threat, even when she was taking seriously threatening action towards him probably should have pissed her off at least a little, but at the same time, it was also strangely flattering in a weird way. After thinking back a little bit to some of the previous fights that they had been in together, it did seem like Peter had to struggle a little less against whatever enemies they faced than he did in their spar at the Guardian Corps Bodhum headquarters, but given the fact that said spar had been one-on-one as opposed to the fights that they had been in since they had reached Hanging Edge, it made sense that she had not made the connection right away. The differences between the two types of fights had been so extremely subtle that she would have had to have stopped and studied his fighting style to really notice them at all. Now that she had a chance to stop and think, she could see that there were often times in their more recent fights when Spidey was able to dodge or deflect an attack easily when he was struggling to do the same when he had fought against her. Still, faint memories that may or may not have been just her mind playing tricks on her and a sudden confession like the one Peter just gave were not quite enough proof of the matter for Lightning, and she knew of only one way to be certain.

Peter on the other hand was very apprehensive about what Lightning was going to do now that she had found out this secret, and when she turned away from him his worries only increased even more. A second later, Lightning had spun around again, swinging her gunblade at him, forcing him to jump back in shock as he let out a yelp of fear and shut his eyes in anticipation for when the sword connected. When he did not feel the sting of a blade cutting through him, he slowly opened his eyes again to see it just inches away from his face while Lightning stared at him evenly with an unreadable look on her face. "You actually flinched in fear," Lightning softly mused.

"Uh yeah! Who wouldn't when they see someone swing a sword at them," Peter asked, rhetorically.

"Normally, you," Lightning pointed out as she holstered her weapon again. "Everyone else who has ever aimed a weapon at you has never gotten more than just you tensing up slightly, almost like you're ready to move out of the way of an incoming attack. When I was about to attack you just now, you didn't react until you actually saw me swing. I guess that means you really were telling me the truth."

"Lightning, when it comes to my Spider-Sense, there are very few times I would ever admit to it not being effective against someone, and I tend to keep any and all information about said times/individuals to myself for good reason," Peter informed her.

"But there have been others who could beat it before," Lightning cottoned on.

"A very small number, yeah. Most of them were due to them being too fast for my Spider-Sense to keep up with, or for some other reason, like in the case of some of my enemies like a guy who calls himself Venom." When Lightning raised an eyebrow at the mentioned name, Peter instantly waved it off and said, "That's a long story; don't ask."

"So why would it not react to me, even before I was a l'Cie," Lightning questioned, making a note to do the exact opposite of what Peter had just requested later on.

"Your guess is as good as mine," Peter shrugged. He then hesitated for a minute before he added, "I guess…there's just something…different about you. In a good way! A very good way, because if it wasn't, then my Spider-Sense would probably never stop tingling around you, and…yeah…"

This time, Lightning knew she could take that as a compliment, and it showed when a ghost of a smile crossed her face, not that you could really see it in the current light, even if you were looking right at her. She was not sure why, but there was just something about hearing Peter say such a thing that made her feel special for some reason. It was a feeling that she could never really remember experiencing before, and she had to wonder if it had anything to do with why it suddenly felt so hot around here. Shaking it off, Lightning allowed a very small smile to grace her face when she looked back up at Peter again and hugged him once more, much to his surprise. "Thank you for telling me that, Peter," Lightning whispered in his ear.

Peter found himself hoping that Lightning could not tell that her actions had sent several shivers up his spine, even as he returned her hug and replied, "You're welcome, Lightning."

"I thought I told you already; call me Light," the rose-haired woman reminded him.

Peter shrugged as best as he could before he countered, "Sure, but only if you promise to call me either Spidey or Pete from now on, depending on which would be more appropriate in the circumstances we're faced with."

Lightning did not know why, but she had to let out a small laugh as she accepted that deal. A minute later, though, another thought occurred to her, and while she thought she might be a little crazy for thinking it, there was just something about the idea that made her feel like she could go ahead with it. So, she then leaned a little closer to Peter's ear, and softly whispered, "Starts with a 'C'."

"What," Peter asked, obviously confused.

"My real name. It starts with a 'C'. That's the only hint you're going to get," Lightning explained, and with that she released him from the hug and started back towards where they had left Hope.

Peter could only stare after Lightning for a minute in shock, having not expected that at all, but eventually, he had to let a small smile slip out, and soon followed after her, knowing that things had just gotten a lot better between them. "Thanks for that, Lady Light," Peter remarked.

"'Lady Light,'" Lightning repeated in confusion.

"Well what do you expect me to say after watching you riding around a battlefield like a knight on a horse with Odin like that? Seriously, do you have any idea how many jokes about knights and horses I've been thinking up since seeing that," Spider-Man pointed out.

Lightning just playfully glared at Peter as she said, "Well if you know what's good for you, you'll keep them all to yourself, otherwise I might sic Odin on you again."

Peter did not flinch this time, because he could somehow tell that she was only joking, and instead just laughed her fake threat off not noticing how Light was smiling a little when he did. When the two returned to camp, they could see that Hope had turned onto his side in an attempt to get more comfortable in his sleep, and clearly dreaming, and they both agreed to get some sleep as well. They had a long way to go still, and they were sure the following day would greet them with quite a few more challenges. They just had to hope they were ready for them.

* * *

 ** _AN: Okay, so let's go over what we've now learned here._**

 ** _Hope: Don't you mean what new information about this iteration of the Marvel universe was learned?_**

 ** _AN:...Yes, Hope, if you want to keep things simple and boring._**

 ** _Hope: Sorry._**

 ** _AN: Anyways...I've now confirmed quite a few heroes were part of this Spider-Man's world's Avengers team, which does in fact include the big six we all know and love (Except in the case of Iron Man, cause seriously, that guy's a total punk for what he did in Captain America Civil War)_**

 ** _Iron Man: I heard that! [Gets blasted out of the room with a laser cannon]_**

 ** _AN: You were meant to! Anyhow, aside from Stark, we do indeed have Captain America, Hawkeye, Black Widow, Thor, and Hulk on the team, along with Falcon, Wolverine, Captain Marvel (Carol Danvers, just to be clear on that), Wasp, and Daredevil. Rest assured, this is not really the limit on the team's membership, but I just wanted to make sure that Spidey covered some of the Avengers that he was closest to, at least in this continuity. Whether or not any other members will be revealed is up in the air, and a very distinct unlikelihood at best, so don't hold your breath on that._**

 ** _Hope: It also seems like Spider-Man is really trying to help me out with my issues regarding my dad, given that conversation we had at the beginning of the chapter about how we needed to stop and see him for a moment._**

 ** _AN: Yes, good eye on that Hope. And more to the point, of course Spider-Man would do that. As I'm sure some of you have probably figured out by now, Spidey has dealt with a similar set of circumstances with Harry and Norman Osborn, so if he's able to help Hope avoid having a similar relationship with his father, it would only be natural that he'd jump at the chance to do so._**

 ** _Lightning: Not to mention that Hope now knows Spider-Man's real name, and you made it my fault that he does. [glares angrily]_**

 ** _AN: Yeah, like it was stated previously, Hope was going to at least learn Spidey's first name at some point, so I figured we might as well get it out of the way now. And while we're on the subject of things that were said in anger, we seemed to hit quite a bump in the road while traveling along the SpideyxLight highway. I mean, if Lightning was able to get on Hope's case out of anger before Odin showed up, it would only make sense that her anger would target Spider-Man as well. No one is able to restrain themselves from targeting even the most important people in their lives when they're angry enough._**

 ** _Spidey: Well hey, at least it all worked out for the better in the end._**

 ** _AN: That it did, Spidey. One thing that I think a lot of people seemed to forget about Lightning was that even though she was always cool and...somewhat collected while also coming off as cold, angry, and maybe a little, teeny, tiny bit cruel, she was still having to deal with the fact that so many bad things had happened to her in the span of less than 12 hours. Her sister was turned to crystal, she got turned into a l'Cie and made an enemy of her entire world, she was suddenly responsible for one of the most incompatible groups of people on Cocoon, and in addition to that in this story, she also found out that one of the few friends she has had just lost the only family he actually has. It honestly surprised me a little that she did not break down more than just with what happened before her fight with Odin, and honestly, I just figured that after all of that, she probably needed a good cry at least once._**

 ** _Snow: And mine and Serah's future brother-in-law was more than happy to give her a shoulder to cry on. [gets punched through the air by both Lightning and Spider-Man]_**

 ** _Serah: Oh great. Now they're double-teaming him on that._**

 ** _AN: Probably should've seen that coming, to be honest. And let's not forget that Lightning now knows that Peter's Spider-Sense doesn't react to her. When I was planning out the fight with Odin, the idea of making him so that he wouldn't set off Peter's trusted sixth sense actually came to me at random, but as I thought about it a little more, it started to make a little sense to me. Odin is Lightning's Eidolen, and also the one ally that has stuck with her throughout all of her adventures in the Final Fantasy XIII series. It just made sense that he would be as invisible to Peter's Spider-Sense as Light is._**

 ** _Serah: Plus Spidey got Light to reveal a clue about her real name. That's really going to get things rolling on the romance between them._**

 ** _LightxSpidey: SERAH!_**

 ** _AN: Hey, she's not entirely wrong, ya know._**

 ** _Hope: Hey, about that little comparison that Spider-Man made between Light and Black Widow...was it really necessary?_**

 ** _AN: As a matter of fact, yes, it was. Come on, you have to admit that there are a lot of similarities between them. More to the point, I have to admit that Spidey will indeed be making future comparisons between the l'Cie heroes and the Avengers, but that is assuming I can figure out who's most like who in that sense. The most I've got is that Snow is a lot like Thor when it comes to attitudes, and Vanille is really the most similar to most of the iterations I've seen of Wasp. If you guys at home have an opinion on which Avenger the other FF13 heroes match with, please, say so in a review, and give a reason why. It could help with the final results for when such a moment would come about._**

 ** _Speaking of which, thinking about similarities between Lightning and Black Widow got me to wondering about who would win between the two of them if they ever fought each other. I mean, you have to admit, even with or without l'Cie powers, Lightning would still have a pretty close match with Natasha Romanoff, so you have to really wonder who would win in such a fight._**

 ** _Spider-Man: Uh, isn't that a question that would typically be answered by the guys who do that web series Death Battle?_**

 ** _AN: Maybe, but I doubt that they would really consider it all that big of a deal for whatever reason. I mean, have seen some of the fights that those guys do? Goku vs Superman, Batman vs Spider-Man, Flash vs Quicksilver, and Goku vs Superman again! Those are some seriously hardcore fights, so I doubt that they would really consider this as something that would be of interest to them without someone calling them out on it._**

 ** _Lightning: I'd honestly be more interested in seeing who would win in a fight between me and the golden boy of Final Fantasy VII, Cloud._**

 ** _AN: Ah, another good match-up that we should ask to see. Hey, Wiz and Boomstick of Death Battle, if you guys, your fellow cast members of the show, or really any of your sources are reading this, then consider this my little friendly challenge to you guys. Pick one of the two fights I just mentioned, and help us answer it, could ya?_**

 ** _Lightning Farron vs Black Widow...Lightning Farron vs Cloud Strife...who would win?_**

 ** _Sazh: What about if it was a fight between Lightning and that guy from Final Fantasy XV?_**

 ** _AN: What, you mean Noctis? Yeah, not gonna lie, given what we've seen him able to do...I can't help but feel like having Light or Cloud fight him would be a little crazy._**

 ** _Lightning: What? You think I couldn't beat some spoiled prince?_**

 ** _AN: Have you seen what that guy is capable of? So yeah, Death Battle Cast, could we please see one of those fights happen at some time in the future. Love the show by the way. You guys rock._**

 ** _Now, before we get any further into this line of conversation, it's time to move Onto the Preview!..._**

 ** _A brief intermission shows the moment when Snow arrives on the Lindblum along with the mysterious Fang, and just what the large blonde does to make sure that he and the others will not remained separated from Serah for too long. Meanwhile, the journeys of Lightning, Hope, and Spider-Man continue on as the three enter the Gapra Whitewood at last. What sort of challenges will they face in the beginning of this last stretch before they reach Palumpolum, and what sort of lessons will Spidey try to teach Hope when he realizes that the boy's quest for revenge against Snow may not have been as quieted as it was believed to have been? More trials await our heroes as their journeys continue, next time._**

 ** _Please read and review, and swing on back for next time, fellow true believers!_**


	9. Planning Ahead

**_AN: Hey everyone! Sorry for the wait, but we are finally back with the next chapter in A Spider's Focus!_**

 ** _[audience applause]_**

 ** _Yeah, I know we're all excited for this, and it has been a while, but as I have stated before, I do have other stories that need to be updated every now and again. I can't always put all of my focus into just one story. Still, nice to see that this one has gotten so much love from all the fans and followers._**

 ** _Spidey: No kidding. I don't think we really see this much love for some of your other stories like the Code Avengers Series, or Avenging Normandy, and that's saying something._**

 ** _Hope: Well, maybe not in the case of the latter, but I'm pretty sure that this story has gotten more reviews than the former and stories like say... Avengers Academy, or even one of his earliest stories: __Iron Man and the Armored Avengers_ _._**

 ** _AN: Yeah, I'm honestly thinking of scrapping the Iron Man one. It had a good idea to it, but with how few follows, favorites, and reviews its gotten, which is practically next to none..._**

 ** _Lightning: Can we please just get on with it? This is a very long chapter you know._**

 ** _AN: Oh, right, right. Sorry. Anyways, first off, to those of you who placed forward challenges in their reviews. Regretfully, I am not taking any challenges at this time, and more to the point, I'm also trying to avoid starting any more new stories at the moment. I've already got like 7, SEVEN, stories in progress that I'm actively working on at the moment, and I'm trying to juggle that with my life outside of fanfictions, so I feel that starting something new right now, even if its just to give you a small look at what to possibly expect in a story might be a little too much for me. I know that some of you are disappointed that this means that the day when my next Gundam &Transformers crossover Transformers 00 will likely be very delayed for a while, but I'm just telling it like it is. All I ask is that you all be a little patient if you are waiting for that, and enjoy what I've got already._**

 ** _Snow: Well, at least your honest about it._**

 ** _AN: Since when am I not? Anyways, before we continue out review answering, let's give a big official welcome to the Gran Pulse spear-woman with a ferocity to match Lightning's: Oerba Yun Fang!_**

 ** _[audience applause]_**

 ** _Fang: Finally! I thought it was going to be forever before I got my official introduction. So, do I just pick something from this list of reviews for you to answer?_**

 ** _AN: Yep, pretty much._**

 ** _Fang: Alright. How about...This one from guest reviewer "Thunder Dragon". The one about suggestions for the possible sequel._**

 ** _AN: Good choice. Anyways, to answer your question my friend, your second suggestion about bringing Miguel O'Hara, alias Spider-Man 2099, has already been considered and is well-implemented to the story, but that doesn't mean that he'll be the only Spider-Hero fighting with Serah and Noel. As for your first suggestion, I'm afraid that one won't be possible to implement, but I believe that what I do have in mind for Parker will be somewhat similar to it. Like I said before, it will have a Double-Spider twist to it. That's really all I can say at this time without giving away too many details._**

 ** _Fang: Next is from "Spoodey", or "kcthewwechamp", or whatever he's calling himself._**

 ** _AN: It's okay, I know who you're talking about. Anyways, thanks for the encouragement dude, and glad to see you're willing to be patient for these updates. Also, to answer your question, the story's titled A Spider's Focus, not because Spidey becomes a l'Cie, but because, in a manner of speaking, it is his Focus to keep the others safe and on the right path. Other than that, it's really just a clever title. And thanks for the praise that you gave last chapter. Don't worry, any spelling errors that I might have made will be corrected ASAP. Trust me, you didn't come off sounding stupid or like a nerd with your review. If anything, you just came off as an excited fan who knew what he was talking about._**

 ** _Fang: Finally is a review from "Harley Quinn-QueenOfMadness"_**

 ** _AN: Right. I agree with you. If it were Batman instead of Spider-Man, Lightning would likely be in a whole lot of trouble. Also, after seeing some of their most recent videos, yeah, I have to agree with you on the idea that Death Battle tries to purposely tick people off._**

 ** _Now, before I subject anyone to a rant on why my opinion of Death Battle has changed in recent months, let's head on down to the Gapra Whitewood, and see how our trio of heroes handles things...Right after we get an update on how things are going with Snow. Enjoy the chapter!_**

 _ **I do not own anything from any Spider-Man or Final Fantasy franchises or any other franchise mentioned in this story.**_

* * *

 **Chapter 9: Planning Ahead**

Snow's determination to stay and help Serah may have been admirable, but his determination alone could not keep him out of trouble forever. The fact that it had pushed him even further into Lightning's bad books could attest to that alone, but it was what happened a little while after the others had left him that really made it clear to him that he more than likely had buried himself in a whole mess of problems. He had been digging at the ice around Serah's crystallized form for what had felt like hours, and it likely had been since he was doing it alone ever since the others left, when one of the sweep teams spotted him and promptly sent out several squads to "contain" him. Naturally, Snow had no intention of going quietly, and immediately went on the offensive, not just to save himself, but also to keep the soldiers away from Serah. He had no idea what they would do to his fiancé if they got to her, but given all the anti-Pulse mindsets that everyone had on Cocoon, especially in PSICOM and the Sanctum, Snow was not going to sit back and find out by letting these guys take Serah, so he fought them with all of his strength and heart. It was probably not the best idea, given that no matter how many soldiers he knocked down, another three would just drop from the ships above to try and take him out, and that was without considering what had happened right when the largest wave of soldiers was about to hit him.

Right as Snow was about to pass out from the exhaustion incurred from fighting so many enemies back-to-back at once, the brand on his arm began glowing once again, much brighter than it had before when he first used his magic, until the glow encompassed his body in a bright, shinning sphere. Seeing this seemed to scare the other soldiers away for a minute, and they were all backing into cover when the sphere shattered and released what appeared to be a pair of Eidolons, for what little good it did, considering said Eidolons had blasted them all away with a simple wave a second after fully materializing. The Eidolons in question both appeared to be female, and had a large wheel that hung from an extension on their heads that would qualify as hair, but one had darker skin than the other, with a lighter patch around one eye, while the other had lighter skin and wore a visor that hid both of her eyes from view. If Snow thought that these two were going to help him, he was wrong, because the next thing he knew, he was having to fight them both at once in a battle that was proving to be even tougher than the one he had just been in. Eventually though, Snow managed to come out on top, and to prove it, the Eidolons transformed themselves into a massive motorcycle that Snow was happy to use in fending off whatever soldiers were still left. Of course, that did not stop him from nearly passing out due to exhaustion once the adrenaline had worn off, and that left him open for the small squad of soldiers who came next. The only difference was that they were not wearing the same armor as the ones that Snow had just fought against, and the person who was leading them had also left quite the impression just before helping to knock him out.

That same person was now standing right next to Snow as they flew above the clouds aboard a large airship that was surrounded by a fleet of smaller ships. The fact that he was up here in handcuffs only added further insult to injury in Snow's opinion, but he doubted that this little show of force was really necessary to prove the point this woman was trying to make to him by showing him all of this. Glancing over at her, Snow finally took the chance to get a better profile of her appearance, and noted how she had very dark skin, and was dressed in a fashion that he could only describe as saying that it was similar to Vanille's, except for the fact that it was in much darker colors of blue and black, and was clearly more mature in a sense. She also carried a long, red spear that had a very intricate design to its tips, but the one thing that caught Snow's eye both the first time he saw her and this time, was the fact that she had a l'Cie brand similar to his, except that it was white and almost seemed as if it had been faded out somehow. The fact that this woman was a Pulse l'Cie and was apparently helping the people hunting him and his friends still confused Snow, but before he could ask again, something else caught his attention.

Coming out of a cloud cover from behind their ship, was a massive airship that looked more like a flying fortress than anything else, and given how many of the smaller ships were flying into it, along with the design of the vessel itself, Snow could not help but be impressed, a fact that he had no problem expressing. "Hoo-hoo-hoo! Look at you," Snow whistled as he looked the ship over. "Wonder what's under the hood of that thing?"

"Keep your pants on," the woman teased him, earning an annoyed scoff from Snow. That did not stop her though, as she then added, "You'll get a peek soon enough. Just try and behave."

"I'm not gonna make any promises," Snow cautioned, half-seriously.

That earned a humorous little sound from his current host before she commented, "Cheeky boy, aren't ya? We'll see how long that lasts."

Shortly after, their ship had docked with the flying fortress, and were then escorted aboard, Snow still in cuffs. As he walked through the hangar, Snow started to take better note of how many of the soldiers in the room were wearing the same blue and white armor that he started to recognize as being more suited to the members of the Guardian Corps, namely those who were part of a different, higher-up division than Lightning had been. Just as he had reached this revelation though, another new face appeared before him, and even without the various different troops saluting said individual, Snow could just feel the commanding presence that this man gave off as he walked towards them. The man in question wore an outfit that was mostly white, with some light grey here and there, along with a small tie, white gloves, a large cape, and blue-to-silver pauldrons on his shoulders, with the left one being slightly more ornate than the right. Another thing that Snow had to note was how the man's dark hair was styled so that you could not tell that the sides of his head had been shaved like most other Sanctum officials.

That was just about all that Snow had time to take note of, because the troops escorting him had signaled for their group to come to a halt before said man once they had reached him. "You must be Snow," the man noted as the group came before him. He then extended a hand to Snow and introduced himself, saying, "Cid Raines. Brigadier general of the fleet."

"Hi, Cid. Thanks for the escort," Snow shortly replied, not accepting the handshake for more reasons than just the fact that his hands were literally tied at the moment.

"Apologies," Cid lightly chuckled while Fang came around to stand next to him. "I just had a few questions to ask you." Before he could get said questions out, Cid's attention was brought to the crystallized Serah, who was being brought aboard by a trio of Sanctum drones. "If it works like they tell us, that means she must have fulfilled her Focus," Cid noted partly to himself, though still loud enough to be heard.

"Serah," Snow cried out as he attempted to reach out to his fiancé, only to be stopped by the mystery woman when she slammed her arm against him and shook her head in warning. What neither she nor Cid ever noticed was that Snow had managed to toss something onto Serah during his charge, much to his hidden relief.

"Fulfilled her Focus as a tainted Pulse l'Cie that is," Cid continued.

"You think she was out to hurt Cocoon," Snow demanded as he was pushed back and then restrained by Cid's men.

"I'd hardly be alone if I did. When it comes to Pulse, who could claim to know anything," Cid pointed out, getting right to the point of his questions as he did. "I need the truth, for the sake of Cocoon."

"'The sake of Cocoon,'" Snow repeated in disbelief. "We're from Cocoon! Shipping us out, Purging innocent people…That's how you lend us a hand?!"

"Those are the Sanctum's methods," Cid immediately disputed with barely concealed distaste. "The public fears what it doesn't know. It's grown tired of living in constant terror of these threats from the world below. So, the Sanctum devised a plan for you l'Cie."

"I'll bet," Snow muttered, though on the inside he was panicking a little about what that would mean for his friends. Cid's next words of revelation immediately made that panic sky-rocket.

"A public execution," Cid revealed, almost driving Snow to halt in his attempts to tackle the man out of anger. "The people don't know any better. Strike down the phantoms before their eyes, and they sleep like babes. The Sanctum has intelligence on the other l'Cie already. It's only a matter of time."

If anyone was expecting Snow to react more violently at this, they would have been disappointed. Not only that, but they would have been shocked by what his actual reaction was, almost as much as Cid and his apparent right-hand-woman were, because he actually ended up laughing. "You find that funny," said woman asked in confusion.

"Yeah, because clearly you and the Sanctum both think you have a chance at catching them," Snow chuckled. "Even if they can't get away, whoever is sent after them will still have more to deal with than they can handle."

"And just what makes you say that," Cid asked.

Snow simply smirked as he gave his reply in full confidence. "Spider-Man."

Hearing that earned him a bark of laughter from the woman, who said, "You really think some urban legend can keep them safe? You're not just cheeky; you're also gullible and nuts."

"Hate to break it to you, but Spidey's real. I've met him, fought with him, and spoken to him. More than that, he's faced odds and enemies far worse than anything that you or the Sanctum could throw at him," Snow replied, not once losing his confidence. "And when he's done with them, he'll be coming here ready to take down anyone who tries to stop him from saving his friends."

While the mystery woman was still in a state of disbelief, Cid was surprisingly calm about everything that Snow just said. "You really have that much faith in him," Cid asked. When Snow just continued to glare up at him with full confidence, Cid could not help but smirk in reply. "I see. It seems that you've peeked my curiosity in regards to the man even more than it was before. More to the point, we'll need your help then, won't we? At least if we're to have any chance of reaching your friends before the Sanctum does."

That confused Snow, but before he could question Cid on it, the man had already turned and started walking away, leaving his men and the mysterious l'Cie woman to guide Snow further into the ship. Though exactly where they were taking him, Snow could not tell you. After a minute of silence though, the woman finally said, "If I were you, I wouldn't go getting his hopes up about some guy who's probably just some big phony."

"Trust me, Lady, Spidey's the real thing, through and through," Snow remarked. He then glanced away for a minute before asking, "So are you finally gonna tell me who the hell you are, or what?"

The woman just remained silent for a minute before she finally said, "The name's Fang, and I'm actually a lot more tied into this than you think."

That sparked Snow's curiosity quite a bit, but at the moment he did not care. All he knew was that he had landed himself into quite a confusing mess. He was just glad that he had made sure that Serah could be found again sooner than Cid thought she would be. Maybe not by Snow, but definitely by the guy who had given him the tracking device that Snow had thrown onto her. _'Guess I'll just have to leave things in your hands for when you finally get here, Spidey,'_ Snow thought, hoping that the Spider-Tracer would not be discovered or run out of power by the time said superhero found a way here somehow.

* * *

"Achoo," Spider-Man sneezed as quietly as he could at the moment.

"Gesundheit," Hope told the wall-crawler.

"Thanks," Spidey nodded while inwardly thanking his luck that nothing disgusting had gotten on the inside of his mask as a result of that random sneeze.

Both boys were shushed into silence by Lightning as she quietly made her way forward before ducking behind cover and then glancing to Spidey to silently ask if he was picking anything up, her gunblade held at the ready in rifle mode. Spider-Man looked forward, reaching out with his Spider-Sense as best as he could, and gave a small nod to say that it was all clear after a minute or so. Lightning then waved for Hope to join up with them as they all quickly made their way forward through the large gate that had appeared before them just moments ago. Once through, they were treated to the sight of what appeared to be massive trees with long, glowing branches and leaves, which left Spidey in slight awe while Lightning and Hope just ignored it in favor of surveying the way ahead just to make sure that there was nothing waiting for them, be it soldiers or monsters. Looking at the branches and leaves, Spidey could also see that there appeared to be circuit lines running through them, proving that they were indeed artificial constructs, though for what purpose such plant life served, Peter was still only guessing. Either way, it all proved that they had finally reached what Peter could assume to be the start of the half-way point.

"So this is the Gapra Whitewood," Spidey commented.

"Yep," Lightning nodded, taking a knee as she ducked behind one of the low-hanging, large branches. "It mainly serves as an experimental facility that the Sanctum uses for research into bioweapons, mostly on various different monsters. This is where a lot of the domesticated monsters like Behemoths, Pantherons, and other such creatures were either created or bread for the purpose that they serve for the Sanctum."

"Mm, pleasant," Peter dryly remarked, already disliking the sounds of this place.

"It also serves as the border zone between the Vile Peaks and Palumpolum," Hope added, thinking that Lightning's explanation needed a more positive spin to it. As he and Spidey knelt down next to or beside Lightning, Hope could not help but admit, "I can't believe we made it."

Spider-Man instantly turned to Hope with a disbelieving look that was obvious even through his mask, and asked, "Really? You're traveling with a top-notched, extremely well-trained and talented soldier, and a guy who has an actual sixth-sense for danger, and you can't believe we actually got here?"

"Well it wasn't exactly easy," Hope reminded him, rubbing his shoulder a bit as he found himself recalling an earlier fight that they had gotten into just shortly after they had woken up that morning and headed out again. It was really more of a phantom pain from where he had been hit by a Thexteron at this point, but it did still hurt a little bit when he thought about it. Of course, his argument was also a way of silently reminding Spidey about his little joyride on the Dreadnaught and the fight they had gotten into with Odin.

"Fair enough," Peter shrugged in admittance. The three then jumped a little when the ground shook a little due to the gate closing behind them, and they were all on their feet once again, knowing that if there was not anything coming at them by now, then they were likely going to be okay if they just stopped to look about for a minute.

"That'll slow down pursuit," Lightning commented as the gate sealed shut.

"Maybe, but we've still gotta worry about whatever's waiting for us on this side. Somehow I doubt anyone's going to be too thrilled about us being here," Spidey pointed out, taking a minute to check if his web-shooters needed to be reloaded.

"Right. We press on," Lightning agreed, dropping into a command mode she had acquired from her time with the Guardian Corp. "I'll take point. Spidey you take the middle. Hope, watch our backs."

"Whoa, whoa, wait a minute, Light. Why am I the monkey in the middle," Spider-Man asked. "My Spider-Sense would give us plenty of head's-up about anything that would try to hit us, so it would make more sense if I took point."

"It's because of your Spider-Sense that I'm putting you in the middle. If you're right in the middle of the group, you'll be able to react faster to anything that comes at us, no matter which direction it comes from," Lightning pointed out.

Spider-Man was about to argue further when Hope interrupted. "Actually…Why don't you let me take point?"

Both soldier and superhero looked at the kid in surprise, not expecting that. "You sure about that, Hope? I mean, you'll be right in the line of fire from the start when we run into any bad guys," Spider-Man reminded the kid.

"I know, but…I still want to take point," Hope stated, a bit of confidence shining through the nervousness in his expression.

Spidey was about to question the kid further, thinking that he might be able to warn the kid off of doing that, until Lightning asked, "Can you handle it?"

Hope's response was to just jog to the front of the group before he turned back to face the other two and stated, "It's not a question of can or can't."

"Now you're learning," Lightning noted with a small smile, and she then nodded for Hope to move up, much to Spidey's displeasure. Hope smiled back with a nod and then turned to face forward just the rosette added one last piece of advice. "Keep your eyes front. I'll watch the rear, and Spidey will have both of our backs."

"Got it," Hope nodded once again, and he immediately started forward with both of his two older companions watching his back, one with a small, proud smile on her face, while the other wore a very different expression that was hidden behind his mask. If anyone saw the latter's expression though, they would be seeing a very large, disapproving frown stretching across his features.

"What are you thinking," Spider-Man demanded of Lightning in a soft whisper after moving closer to her, and far enough from Hope so that the kid would not be able to hear him as he did so. "In case you haven't noticed, not only is it a bad idea to let Hope take point, it's the farthest thing from what would qualify as a good idea that even the dumbest person in existence wouldn't think of doing it."

"That's part of the reason why I'm letting him take point: so he can learn," Lightning revealed. "Besides, we're less likely to run into any soldiers while we're in here if we're careful enough, and most of the monsters we'll find here are in smaller groups and less dangerous than the ones in the Vile Peaks."

"That still doesn't excuse the fact that you're practically making the kid a human shield by letting him go out in front like this," Spidey insisted. "Did you not hear what I told him earlier about how he'll be the first one to get noticed and attacked by anything that tries to come at us if he's in front?"

"Weren't you also the one who said that he needs a little positive reinforcement if we want him to gain any confidence in his abilities," Lightning reminded him.

"There's a huge difference between then and now," Spider-Man disputed.

"Hey, it's not like we're leaving him to fend for himself. You're going to be right behind him the entire time, ready to react to anything that would be too much for him to handle. Besides, why are you so against this? You've been Spider-Man since you were fifteen," Lightning pointed out.

"It wasn't entirely a choice I made for myself; it was part of the responsibility that came with my new powers," Spider-Man argued back. "I don't want to force that kind of burden on Hope, especially since he's younger than I was back when I started out as Spider-Man."

"I'd hate to break it to you, but he's already dealing with that. He has been since he became a l'Cie. More to the point, I'm not making him do anything. He volunteered to take point because he wanted to, just like how you chose to keep being Spider-Man even after all that had happened to you, and like how I chose to become who I am after everything that had happened to me," Lightning reminded Peter.

Spider-Man fell silent at that, since he honestly did not have anything to say in dispute of that point, and instead, just returned to his previous position in their little formation. Though he did make a point of standing a bit closer to Hope than was probably necessary so that he could jump in should the boy need him to at any point in the near future. For the next few minutes, the three just carried on in a trek along the walkway that was suspended well above the ground, encountering very few monsters along the way, just like Lightning said they would, and when they did encounter some monsters, they were easily dealt with thanks to a few well-placed fire spells from Hope, some quick slashes of Lightning's gunblade, or a barrage of punches, kicks, and webs from Spidey. As easy as it was though, it did not stop Lightning from calling out more advice on how to proceed every now and again, more for Hope's benefit than anything else. It was a little annoying at first, but given how Hope was soaking it all in like a sponge, and taking it to heart as he improved little by little, Spidey eventually learned to live with it.

Despite that, it did not change his opinions about Hope's current position in their formation. Sure, he was doing alright on point, but Spidey honestly thought that Hope was better suited for a support position. He did not believe that simply because he felt that was safer for Hope, but also because he had taken a minute to really get a read on Hope's abilities in a fight, both before and after he had become a l'Cie, and even without his amazing magic skills, Hope was often putting a lot more focus on keeping his allies safe than he was on the actual fights that they got into. That was an admirable quality for sure, but he knew better than anyone that you would not be able to save anyone if you did not take some time to worry about keeping yourself strong. Spidey had a couple of different scars from fights with guys like Rhino and Venom that served as a reminder of that lesson, but then again, it seemed that Hope was probably learning that lesson pretty quickly. After a couple of different easy fights with what Peter could only describe as overgrown slugs, Hope seemed to start getting the hang of balancing things between watching out for his teammates and keeping himself in one piece while in a fight, and his calls for action became less of a reason for Lightning and Spidey to give him cover for while he bombarded the monsters with fire spells, and more of a chance to give him an opening to strike at them with his own weapon and abilities. Seeing Hope steadily yet quickly improve in how he fought was actually impressive in Peter's opinion, and he could not help but wonder how much of it was really due to his and Lightning's guidance when the kid seemed to make adjustments on his own so quickly.

The only thing that was more impressive than Hope's growing skills and strengths was the fact that they had not gotten lost yet. Sure, the path they needed to take did not really branch off in too many directions, but at the same time, Peter could still tell that it was going to be very easy to get lost in a place like the Gapra Whitewood, and there was no doubt that they would reach the point where it became a labyrinth sooner or later. Thankfully, Lightning already knew about this, and knew of the one surefire way for them to get through without getting too terribly lost. The ex-soldier quickly pointed out a series of light-columns being projected up from the floor, and stated that they would act as guideposts to keep them heading in the right direction. That was definitely good news, but the only downside to that was that if they ever came off of these walkways for whatever reason, the only one of them who would be able to get back to where they were would likely be Spidey, and even then, these guideposts would not likely be everywhere or remain in positions where they could easily spot them forever, so Peter just had to hope that they would be able find their way through on their own, with or without these guideposts.

There was just one small problem with that prayer of Spidey's: neither he nor Hope had ever actually been out here in the Gapra Whitewood before, at least as far as Peter knew, but given that Lightning was a member of the Guardian Corp, he figured that she might have been here once or twice, which was only reinforced by how she knew so much about this place. Sadly, that idea was crushed shortly after Hope had actually asked Lightning if she had been there before while on duty. "No, I haven't. This area's covered by the Woodlands Observation Battalion," Lightning revealed.

"Then how do you know so much about this place," Spider-Man asked.

"I do actually study up in a few things regarding Sanctum military branches," Lightning easily informed him. She then looked to Hope, and seeing that he had a slightly worried look, her tone became a little softer and concerned as she asked the kid, "Hey, you scared, Hope?"

"Well…A little, but it's better to be a bit nervous, because otherwise you're just cocky and overconfident, and you make more mistakes that way," Hope replied, repeating the words that his other traveling companion had told him not that long ago.

Hearing said line repeated back to him and Lightning, Peter could not help but smile a little behind his mask as he commented, "Well, looks like Light was right. You _are_ learning now."

Hope grinned a little at Peter's praise, and then added, "Either way, I'm ready to fight if I have to."

Lightning nodded at that, and then reached into her bag before presenting something to Hope. That same item instantly grabbed Spidey's attention, because he immediately recognized it, and there was no reason why he should not. After all, he was there with Lightning when she first received it. "To keep you safe," Lightning explained to Hope as he gently took the survival knife in his hands. Even though she saw him handle it with care, Lightning still felt the need to warn Hope, "I'll want it back."

"I should hope so," Peter muttered softly enough for only Lightning to hear.

Before the rosette could utter a remark in reply to the web-head's comment, Hope suddenly called out to both of them, grabbing their attention completely. "I'm glad I followed you guys," Hope told the two. "By myself, I would've had no chance."

"Now I'm gonna have to call that a load of crap, kid," Spidey disputed, earning surprised and confused looks from Hope and Lightning respectively. "You may not be the strongest out of the three of us, Hope, but you're definitely not helpless. You're a smart kid, and sometimes, that's all it really takes to make it on your own. After all, the mind is one of the strongest muscles human beings have always had, and you've obviously given yours quite the workout, considering what I've seen so far."

"How do you know that," Hope asked.

"Dude, you figured out how to start up one of those Dreadnoughts all on your own, and you've clearly got quite a bit of tactical thinking to you given how well you're able to figure out when and where to throw out a spell that would help us in a fight. And let's not forget about the fact that you yourself told me that you've studied a lot of different scientific areas for a long time not that long ago," Spider-Man pointed out. Hope had the decency to look sheepish at that last part, but it faded away when Spidey added, "Besides, even if you hadn't told me that, I would've been able to figure it out on my own. After all, like the old saying goes, takes one to know one."

Lightning could not help it. Seeing Peter encourage and praise Hope like that just made it seem so much like how a father would act with their child that she just had to smile at the scene. It was pretty obvious from what she had seen in a few news reports back in Bodhum that Peter was good with kids, but this was cementing the fact for her, and he was definitely doing a lot better than she probably could have. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that Peter did not have his real parents around when he was growing up, or maybe it was something else, like the fact that he and Hope were both scientists that made it easier for him to really get through to Hope, or maybe it was some other reason that Lightning was not entirely aware of. Whatever the case, it was actually really sweet in her opinion, and that was something that Lightning never really thought in regards to almost anyone, save for one person. It all almost reminded her of Serah in a way. That thought quickly turned Lightning's smile into a small frown, as it reminded her of one of the last conversations she had with her sister, but she put it out of her mind for the moment, knowing it would not do to think about such things right now, and she quickly turned to board the elevator just ahead of them.

"Time to move," Lightning called out to the boys, effectively killing the moment that they were having, much to the chagrin of at least one of them.

"Really, Light? We're having a bromantic moment here, and you're just going to kill it like that? Can you believe her, Hope," Spidey asked.

If it were anyone else, Hope probably would not have gone along with this little joke, mostly out of fear for what Lightning would do in retaliation, but there was just something about Spider-Man that made him want to tag along in the humor of it all. "I know. That does seem a little mean," Hope nodded with a small smile, even though he still gained a small shiver from the look that Lightning gave them in response as they boarded the elevator. "Maybe if we reestablish eye-contact, we'll pick up where we left off."

The two jokers immediately locked gazes with each other while Lightning started up the elevator, and even after she looked back from the controls, they were still doing it. After watching for another minute, Light was started to feel a little creeped out by the sight before her, until Spider-Man finally said, "Hope?"

"Yeah Spidey," Hope asked.

"I'm not feeling anything. You think we lost it?"

"…Yeah, I think so," Hope sighed in false despair.

Spider-Man then took a page out of one of his best friend's books, and decided to be a little dramatic by turning to Lightning and said, "You see what you did? You killed a moment of bromance! Why cruel fate? WHY?!"

Even though she wanted to, Lightning could not have completely stopped the smile from coming to her face as she rolled her eyes at how overdramatic the superhero of the three was being, and she barely kept a chuckle out of her voice as she lightly reprimanded, "Oh grow up, you big baby. We need to keep our heads together to if we want to make it to Palumpolum, remember? We don't have time to fool around."

"Then why is it that you're smiling, Light? And why do you look like you're about to burst out laughing," came the questions, not from Peter, but from Hope, who could not stop a teasing grin from coming to his own face, surprising Spider-Man a little bit, while Lightning turned away.

"Ah-ha! I knew it! You have been at least smiling a little at some of my jokes every now and then! Admit it," Spider-Man excitedly cheered.

"No, I haven't," Lightning denied.

"You have too," Spider-Man quipped.

"Have not."

"Have too."

"Have not!"

"Have too!"

The two just continued to banter back and forth like this, much to Hope's amusement, until they came upon another set of monsters, and the kid had to bring it to an end so that they could focus on the fight, being the one who was taking the lead at the moment. It was a little weird that the youngest member of the trio was telling two, full-grown adults to stop arguing like kids, but none of them were really bothered by that too much, but that was probably because they had some monsters to fight at the moment.

* * *

After the little moments that they had shared, and the monster fight that had followed afterwards, they trio was once again making their way through the Gapra Whitewood with Hope still in the lead. Oddly enough, they had not encountered too many monsters after they had taken the elevator up, and even when they did, it was not really anything too serious that they could not handle. In fact, if he were being honest, Spidey felt that it was almost overkill to have both him and Lightning in on the fights most of the time, but that may have been going a little too far. Then again, that also could have been due to how good Hope was getting at leading them in a fight, as every call he made was quick yet still well-thought out most of the time. Sure, the kid made mistakes now and again, but that was mostly because he was still learning, and thankfully, he had two well-seasoned fighters to back him up when mistakes were made. Throughout all of those fights though, one could not help but notice how Hope never once used the survival knife that Lightning had given him.

That was not necessarily a bad thing, seeing as it meant that the knife was still in good condition, but it was a little odd. Still, no one was complaining too much, especially in the case of Lightning. It was the knife that Serah had given her as a birthday gift just a couple short days ago. That seemed like such a long time ago now, but that did not make the value of said gift any less great in Lightning's mind or heart. This was something that Spidey knew since he was there when she first received and unwrapped the gift, but in Hope's case, he was able to see it in how Lightning had handed it to him with hesitance and great care, and in how her eyes seemed to flash with concern for the small knife when she told him that she would want it back later. For that reason alone, Hope was determined to take good care of Lightning's knife, and he made sure to use it as sparingly as possible. Besides, he was not completely weaponless before Light gave him the knife, and while his boomerang was not the most powerful weapon out there, it did still have plenty of uses, and it got the job done for him just like the web-shooters did for Spidey.

All the same, no one was dropping their guard while they were making their way through the border zone/research facility. Hope and Lightning were the most on edge, but that was mostly because unlike Peter, they did not have a sixth sense for danger. That did not mean that Spidey was not keeping his other senses open, or that he was not ready to jump into a fight at any second, because he most definitely was. Even then though, he did not tense up to the same level as the other two unless his Spider-Sense started tingling to the point of being noticeable. The only reason that was the case was because it was tingling ever so slightly ever since they came into the Gapra Whitewood, but Peter chalked that up to the fact that it was a breeding ground for the military controlled monsters that they had been fighting up until this point. It was only when the monsters were right in front of them, or about to attack them that his sixth sense went off at its normal levels or at full blast. Of course, that did not explain why his Spider-Sense was going off at said level right now when there were absolutely no monsters in sight at all.

Despite the fact that there were no visible threats in the area, Peter had long since learned that it was usually a much more favorable idea to trust his Spider-Sense when it was telling him that there was danger, to put it mildly, so he still looked to his two friends and said, "Uh guys, we've got a problem coming in."

"What kind of problem," Lightning asked, tensing up for a fight the minute Peter said that, knowing full-well that he likely said that because of a warning he was getting from his Spider-Sense.

"I don't know," Spidey stated.

"What do you mean 'you don't know,'" Lightning asked.

"Hey, my Spider-Sense just tells me that danger's coming, and from what direction. It doesn't tell me all of the exact details of a threat like who or what," the web-head replied. "All I know at the moment is that it's coming, and it's from somewhere…above us?"

Hope's eyes had already been scanning the area around them the second that Spider-Man had said that he picked up something coming, but the minute that he heard the web-head indicate a direction that they needed to watch, he immediately registered something that the other two had yet to notice, and quickly turned to the other two and cried out, "We need to hide!"

Before anyone could say anything, Hope had grabbed Lightning's hand and pulled her under the cover of a low-hanging branch, with Spider-Man following soon after. Spidey was tempted to give them better cover by using his webs to hide their presence under the branch, but refrained from doing so since it was more likely that such a dense and thick amount of webbing would likely stick out like a sore thumb in this place. It was not even seconds later that a patrol of soldiers suddenly flew overhead on airbikes. Seeing them coming caused Hope to start reaching for his boomerang, while Spider-Man prepared to either start firing webs or throwing out punches, but to their surprise, the soldiers did not stop. Instead, they just kept on flying like they did not have a care in the world, not even slowing down to survey the area, almost as if they did not care whether or not they might be there. While both Spider-Man and Lightning's eyes narrowed, having guessed why that was the case, Hope was still completely baffled as to why the soldiers did not seem to even stop to look around for them.

"They don't seem like they're even looking for us. I mean, we're l'Cie and we're on the loose," Hope questioned as he stepped out from behind their cover, with the other two following soon after.

Realizing why the boy was wondering about this, Light took it upon herself to explain the reasons for why the soldiers appeared so unconcerned about their being here. "PSICOM's keeping it all under wraps. They don't want their failure publicized," Lightning told the kid with a hand on her hip. "Better to lose us than lose their pride."

"In other words, they're pretty much pulling a Nick Fury just so they can save face," Spider-Man summarized, only to draw looks of confusion from the other two.

"Who's Nick Fury," Hope asked.

"A superspy from back in my original universe," Spider-Man shrugged like it was no big deal. "Or to be more accurate, he's _the_ superspy. He's also the director of a world peacekeeping organization, which normally sucks at its job, since it usually ends up relying on guys like me or the Avengers to do it for them, or to clean up their mess."

"Either way, it sounds like you're saying the other soldiers don't know about us. Right," Hope asked, just to make sure he was understanding right.

"Right. They don't know _anything_ about any fugitives," Lightning replied, though it was clear she was not entirely serious in the remark, a fact that someone easily picked up on.

"The sarcasm is really not necessary, Light," Spidey pointed out. He then turned to Hope and said, "They may not know about fugitive l'Cie being on the loose, but they do probably know about some fugitives nonetheless. And besides, try to keep in mind that one person in our little group, that being me, was labeled by the Sanctum as a danger to society, so we should still keep our guard up."

The reminder of how Dysley and the Sanctum had labeled Peter a threat to Cocoon honestly made Lightning bristle a little bit, while her hands twitched as if she were resisting to reach for her gunblade and slash or shoot at anything that was within her reach at the moment. It burned her up on the inside at how those people could take someone as noble, honest, and good as Peter, whether he was Spider-Man or Peter Parker, and make him out to be some sort of terrible villain. She was glad to hear that not everyone was buying into that crap, even if it was mostly because they did not believe that the web-head actually existed, but that was still very little comfort on the matter since that also meant that people likely thought he was just some myth that someone made up or something. The urge to destroy something instantly grew a little more at that thought, and Lightning had to take a silent, deep, calming breath in order to get herself under control before she acted on that urge, at least on something that was necessary to their path forward. When she had calmed down though, she could not help but think that if she was getting this upset about the matter, then how did Peter feel about it? He was the one who was being targeted by that pack of lies the Sanctum was trying to sell, and even though he had said that he had dealt with such ridicule before, she knew that there were times when it actually did hurt him. Their little confrontation back in the Vile Peaks was proof enough of that, so she could not help but wonder if he really was able to just shrug the Sanctum's accusations off as easily as he claimed to have.

It took a minute of thinking about this until Lightning finally paused to ask herself why she was even getting worked up about this anyway. Sure, Peter was her friend, and he made it clear that he considered her a friend too, but should that mean that she should be this upset about how other people were treating him, or even thinking of him? Sure, she got upset when others were mean to Serah, and she often kicked their butts when they were younger for doing so, but she did not remember ever feeling as upset about those people picking on her sister as she did now in regards to Peter. After thinking about it for a moment, Lightning finally decided that maybe it was because Peter was the first person who not only wanted be a true friend to her, but that she also considered to be just as good a friend as well. She could not quite remember the last time she had a friend who was there for her like Peter had been ever since he came into her life, and that alone meant that he was something very special to Lightning. Settling on this revelation made Lightning able to put it aside and get her head back in the game in regards to their current objective. Even so, she could not help but wonder, why was it that she felt like she was lying to herself about that, or even why did she feel a strange heat on her face while her heart sped up a little when she thought of Peter as being special?

She was not completely brought out of her musings until they were all on the next elevator that would help them proceed forward, and Spidey suddenly asked the two a question that they were not expecting. "We're heading down? I thought that out was up," Peter questioned.

"If that was the case, then we would've just had to head in a straight line to get to Palumpolum. You didn't really think that was going to be the case, did you," Lightning asked.

"Honestly…I was kinda hoping that it would be for once," Spidey admitted.

"Considering how many destroyed pathways we've seen as we've been going so far, I can't help but think that might've been a little silly think," Hope told the web-head.

Spider-Man shrugged in defeat of this, and then followed after the other two when the elevator came to a stop at the level they were descending to, following Hope as he proceeded down the path forward. From that point on, it was pretty much a lot of the same thing that they had dealt with so far, but thankfully, they did not run afoul of anymore patrols of soldiers. They did come across a behemoth or two along the way, but it was nothing that they could not handle when they were all working together. The only time they had to stop after the moment when they had to take cover and hide from the soldiers was when Spidey needed to take a moment and check on the amount of webbing he had left in his web-shooters. He was not too fond of running out of webbing in the middle of a fight back in New York, and he liked the chance of that happening here even less. His feelings were shared by both Lightning and Hope, because they had seen how much help Spider-Man's webs were to them, and especially to him since he used them for so many different things in his fighting style, almost right to the point where it seemed like they were essential to how he fought, so having him run out of webbing would have been very bad for everyone in their book.

It turned out that Spider-Man's web-shooters were only half empty at the moment, a fact that elicited a sigh of relief from everyone after learning this, and they were on the move once again. This time, there was no stopping until they had reached what Lightning claimed was the half-way point of their journey through the Gapra Whitewood, which was marked by the presence of a bulkhead fal'Cie. Once again, the group had to pause in their trek because of Spider-Man, but only because he could not help but wonder aloud if this fal'Cie was going to be a problem to them, given the fact that it was a fal'Cie that had landed them in this mess to begin with. It was a reasonable concern, but Lightning assured him that this fal'Cie was not really that intelligent beyond what was necessary for it to do its job. That had lead them into a debate on fal'Cie intelligence somehow, but the matter was quickly put on hold when an Alpha Behemoth charged at them, with a pair of Thexterons flanking it on either side.

Seeing this trio of obvious guard dogs was in their way, the three quickly went to work in taking them out. Hope instantly took the lead by tossing his boomerang forward in order to throw the three off balance before they could make it all the way over to their group, giving Lightning and Spider-Man an opening to charge in and attack. Taking advantage of their opening, Spider-Man quickly took down both of the Thexterons before he spun around onto the floor in order to boost Lightning into the air, giving her the chance to strike the Behemoth from above. The ex-soldier easily did so by infusing some lightning magic into her gunblade, adding an extra jolt to her attack that caused the Behemoth to stagger. A barrage of fire spells combined with web-bullets were more than enough to discourage the massive beast from swiping at the rosette in retaliation, and that gave Lightning a chance to hit it instead with a furious combination of sword swipes.

Once she had finished her barrage, Lightning instantly backed off to allow one of the others to attack, and Hope did so with a quick throw of his boomerang, giving Spider-Man ample time to set up a web-slingshot maneuver that would sent him rocketing towards the large beast. The minute he was within range, Spider-Man slammed both feet into the Behemoth's head, using the beast as a springboard in order to flip back before launching himself forward once again so that he could hit it with every ounce of strength that he had. Hope easily made sure that the large monster did not get a chance to hit Spidey back for any blows that the web-head landed, but given his speed and agility, that action really ended up being an extra safety net for Spider-Man to fall back on, at least in his opinion. Granted, fighting this thing was not the same as fighting a human opponent, but given how many times he had fought against this particular monster now, Spider-Man now had a better idea of where its pressure points were and which nerves to hit, giving him better targets to unleash his personal fighting style on. When Spider-Man was done, the Behemoth was unable to even stay standing upright anymore, meaning that all they needed to do now was finish it off. That action was carried out by Hope, as he unleashed a powerful blast of fire magic on the monster, one that was larger and stronger than any the kid had used up until now, disintegrating it the minute that the spell had struck.

Seeing the ashes that the Behemoth had been reduced to, Lightning and Spider-Man could not help but turn an amazed eye towards their young companion, who had fallen back in exhaustion, both due to the fight and how long they had been traveling without much rest. Neither of them were really sure what to say right then, until Spider-Man finally asked, "What was that? That was clearly not just a fire spell."

"I think…that was the spell…Fira," Hope panted. "It's a more powerful version of the Fire spell I'd been using up until now."

"That's putting it mildly," Lightning muttered before she turned her attention towards the bulkhead fal'Cie, waiting for when it opened up and let them through.

"How'd you even use it," Spider-Man asked.

"I'm not sure. It just…came to me," Hope admitted. His face then grew a little dark when he then added on, "I'm glad it did though. I need to get stronger."

Spider-Man really did not like the way that the kid had said that. It reminded him a little of how Hope had confronted Snow back in the Pulse Vestige, and that was a scary sight to behold on its own, given how angry and vengeful the kid had appeared to be as he spoke to the much bigger man. It was especially scary now that he had gotten to know Hope a little better, and looking at Hope now, it made Peter think of someone he had known who had been just like Hope a while back, and of how it had driven that same person to where he was now. Recognizing this prompted Peter to feel like he had to do or at least say something before Hope ended up going down that same path and meeting a similar fate, but at the moment, he was not entirely sure what he could say. Even if he was about to say something, he lost his chance to do so when Hope diverted his attention away from that with a new question of his own.

"I wonder how the others are doing," the boy commented.

"Sazh and Vanille," Lightning asked, thinking that Hope was mainly referring to the two that they had split off from back in the Vile Peaks. When Hope said nothing in reply, she took that as confirmation, and replied, "Who knows? Even if they got away, they'll get caught eventually. Then they'll have to choose: resist or surrender."

Peter could tell that Lightning did not like telling the kid this, given how she did not so much as glance in Hope's direction as she said it, and he could not blame her. It was not a pleasant thing to think about for him or Lightning, and given how close he seemed to have become to Vanille, Hope more than likely did not find the idea any more appealing than them. That made it all the harder for him to say what he did in addition to Lightning's statement. "I can't really see Sazh as the type to resist right now, given his attitude on things as they stood when we last saw him," Spidey admitted. "He might've been okay with taking on the Pulse fal'Cie back in the Vestige with us, but he was only joining in on the fighting with us because he really did not have much of a choice. Well that, and out of an obligation to keep the kids of our little group safe. Maybe he'll try to do something to help Vanille, but other than that, I don't really see him putting up much of a fight. Vanille on the other hand…I really couldn't say. She clearly isn't the type to go quietly, but she also seems like she'd rather run away from a major problem or fight rather than face it."

"How do you figure that," Lightning asked.

"It's just…something in her attitude and mannerisms, or at least what I saw from when we were all together," Spidey shrugged.

"So, it'll likely mean they'll decide to surrender," Hope quietly thought aloud, putting an end to the discussion before it could go any further. His gaze narrowed a bit as he then asked, "Do you think _he's_ still alive?"

Spider-Man knew in an instant who Hope was likely referring to, but Lightning was not entirely sure for a minute, until the one person of their little group of l'Cie that she had yet to mention crossed her mind. "You mean Snow," Lightning asked, her own mood growing a little sour at the mere thought of him. Her last encounter with the self-named hero was still fresh in her mind, along with a few other things from her previous encounters with him, so it was no surprise that he was far from her list of favorite people at the moment. Still, she had to give him credit where it was due, even if it was with a scoff of annoyance and irritation. "He's too stubborn to die, and that's his best quality. He's arrogant and chummy from the get-go. He thinks he's everybody's pal. Never liked him much."

"Yeah, I think you've made that pretty obvious by now," Spidey informed her, his mind already going to the most recent encounters between Lightning and her sister's fiancé. He then thought of something else and said, "Wait. That sounds a bit like what some people would say about me, and you and I get along all right, don't we," the web-head questioned.

"You're an entirely different story, Spidey," Lightning instantly informed him. "Besides, you're the farthest thing from arrogant, even if there are times where you would talk like you are. You've actually got a good reason for doing what you do, while Snow just does his little 'hero' thing because he doesn't want to rely on the Sanctum or something. Plus, Snow doesn't seem to really think about his actions at times, unlike you."

"Okay, Light, I think we get it," Hope told Lightning. He may not have been Snow's biggest fan at the moment himself, but he was at least willing to let Snow have a chance to prove he was not the kind of man Lightning was describing him to be. That was a big reason as to why he did not really want to hear Light's little rant about the tall blonde.

Lightning was not quite finished with her rant just yet, because she had one last thing to add to it before that. "He also leads around a bunch of kids. Gang called 'NORA.'"

That got Hope's attention in a bad way, and Spidey knew it probably would the minute that Lightning brought it up, so he could not help but tense up a little in concern about what Hope's reaction would be. Thankfully, Hope only responded by asking a simple question, albeit with a dark tone of voice. "Where'd they get the name 'Nora'?"

Lightning must have missed the way that Hope had asked his question, because she just crossed her arms as she turned to face the kid, knowing that Spidey was probably wondering about it himself somewhere in the back of his mind. "It's a stupid acronym," Lightning revealed. "Their little code. Stands for 'No Obligations, Rules, or Authority.' Must be nice."

"It's irresponsible," Hope almost snarled as he stood up, seeing that the gateway through the bulkhead had opened up, and practically stomped through, much to Lightning's surprised confusion. Hope was glad that the name had nothing to do with his mom, even though he already knew that it likely did not, but that did not make things any better in his book.

Knowing that what Lightning had said probably had not helped Hope with his opinion of Snow, Spider-Man took it upon himself to try and turn a positive spin on the matter and said, "Well, it's a lot better than some of the acronyms that I've heard. For example: SHIELD and SWORD."

"What are those? A couple of other teams of heroes like the Avengers," Hope asked, his irritation dwindling a little in favor of curiosity about something else from Spider-Man's world. Lightning was also curious as well, having remembered hearing Spidey mention something about SHIELD before back in the Vile Peaks after their little crash-landing.

"Not exactly. Granted there are a couple of different people who are superheroes in the organizations, but they're really more like spy organizations," Spider-Man corrected. "SWORD's basically a group that keeps the peace on Earth, but it mainly focuses on anything related to stuff that comes from outer space. You know, like aliens and such. They're really more of a subdivision of SHIELD, and because of that, I've always figured that they named themselves as such because they wanted their initials to spell 'sword,' showing that they were related to SHIELD in some way. As for SHIELD, it's that world peacekeeping organization that I mentioned Nick Fury being the director of earlier. The one that seems to do a lousy job at protecting the world at times. Though they do pull through on a lot of different matters, so I can't say that they're all bad."

"What does SHIELD even stand for," Lightning asked as they continued walking forward.

"It stands for Strategic Homeland Intervention Espionage and Logistics Division," Spider-Man replied. When he received a pair of blank looks in response, he just shrugged and said, "Yeah, I had a hard time remembering it as anything more than a mouthful too, but that's likely why they shortened the name to SHIELD. That or the founders really just wanted their initials to spell 'shield.' Wouldn't surprise me, given that said founders were old war buddies and allies of Captain America."

"What about SWORD? What does that stand for," Hope asked.

This time, Spider-Man had to pause and think for a minute, until he finally gave up and said, "I actually can't remember, but then again, a lot of people also tend to forget that SWORD even exists unless they've had a lot interactions with them or they're actually members of the organization. You know, like Captain Marvel."

"The original one or the one you mentioned was your friend? Carla, right," Hope asked.

"The latter, and her name's actually Carol," Spider-Man replied, not noticing how Lightning bristled a little at the mention of one of Spidey's old friends. It had not escaped her notice how Spider-Man would brighten up a little when he mentioned some of his old Avengers teammates to them earlier on in their travels, namely the female ones, and Carol was one of those particular teammates. That little reaction was all the indication that she needed to know that Spidey likely had a bit more than feelings of respect and friendship in regards to those particular teammates, and she did not like hearing about it.

Hope must have noticed her reactions, because he then asked, "Uh Light? Are you okay?"

Realizing that Hope had noticed her distressed state, Lightning instantly snapped herself back to the matter at hand, and said, "Yeah. I'm fine." When no one said anything more afterwards, she just gave a silent cough and said, "Well then…let's get going."

"Uh…yeah. Whatever you say, Light," Spider-Man nodded, and he was soon following after her along with Hope as they climbed onto yet another elevator.

As the elevator descended downwards to the ground level of the Gapra Whitewood, Lightning could not help but use the time that they were allowed by the ride to think for a moment. The main topic of concern for her was how Hope had reacted to the information that he had learned about Snow, but aside from that, there was one other thing that was now bothering her. The matter in question was why exactly did she get upset over how Peter was just talking about an old friend of his?

* * *

After descending to the ground level of the Gapra Whitewood, Lightning instantly warned her two traveling companions that this was the area where the military kept a lot of the more feral creatures, which were much different from the trained breed that was normally deployed. Hearing this made both boys a little nervous, but they shook it off so that they could continue pushing forward, right to the point where they had landed themselves inside one of the pens that were containing the previously mentioned animals. Knowing that the fences would only be functional if the animals were present, Lightning was quick to suggest dealing with their pen-mates to shut off the gates, but Hope had a better idea; one that allowed Spider-Man more of a chance to shine outside of battle. Hearing that Spidey was involved in the kid's idea immediately set off warning bells for Lightning, and she instantly started to protest against it, having already been through it once already. When Hope argued that it was better than risking any of these animals possibly surviving and then getting out after the gates were shut down, Lightning was quick to point out that the gates would jump back online the minute the security system detected a conscious animal inside the pen. Eventually, Spidey pointed out that going with Hope's idea would save them more time and energy than hers, and Lightning found that she could only sigh in defeat of this. A minute later, Hope had climbed on Spider-Man's back, while Lightning found herself wrapped tightly in one of the web-head's arms while her own were wrapped around his neck as Spidey himself prepared to swing them over the gates and onward in their journey.

The minute that she agreed to travel Spider-style once again, Lightning had instantly warned Peter to make sure he did not drop either one of them unless he wanted to die slowly and painfully, but Peter had just shrugged it off by saying that she and Hope would be fine, since he had never dropped someone he was swinging to safety yet, unless he was attacked by a supervillain. She had to roll her eyes in response to that claim, but once she had her arms around Spidey, and he had her held securely in his arm, Lightning could not help but note a very odd sensation overcoming her. It was hard for her to really describe in words, but if Light really had to, she would say that the feeling was similar to one she had when she was around Serah. Actually, that was not quite accurate either. It was much more powerful than any feeling that she ever got from her sister, and Lightning never remembered feeling this sense of warmth and security from Serah before. If anything, it was actually more similar to that time when they had their little sparring match back at the Guardian Corp Bodhum headquarters, namely around the end of said match. Even after they had finished and gone their separate ways to deal with whatever matters they had to deal with, Lightning had still remembered an odd feeling from that match, and she still had no idea what it was, or why those last occurrences had even happened. Not once could she ever remember teasing someone during a spar in the way that she had Peter, but there was something about him that had just brought that side out of her. Now that she was held in his arms again like this, and feeling his very well-toned body against her own while his powerful arms held her tightly yet still with the gentleness of someone holding onto something that might break if they were not careful, Lightning felt that same sense of comfort washing over her again, and she still had no clue as to why.

She was so busy wondering about those things that she never even registered when Spider-Man had jumped up and started swinging through the air, at least until Hope suddenly let out an excited cry of joy, proving that he was enjoying this a lot more than she had initially been expecting either one of them to. Then again, considering how unwilling she had been the last time that Spider-Man had taken her swinging, she had to admit that this time around, she was actually enjoying herself a little as well, and before she knew it, she was actually nestling her head against Peter's shoulder as she felt the wind blow against her face and through her hair as they swung onward. Navigating the Gapra Whitewood's ground level like this was definitely something that they should have done the minute they had reached this point, but that idea quickly changed when the security gates suddenly sprung to life around them, even extending upward so high that if Spidey had not sensed it and released his hold on his current web-line, they would have swung right into the fence. Of course, that probably would have preferable to fighting the Feral Behemoth that had jumped in with them not two minutes later.

The fight against the Feral Behemoth did not last too terribly long, especially since Hope was still calling most of the shots for them as the team leader, but throughout most of the fight, Lightning could have sworn that the kid was fighting a lot more viciously than he had been before, like he was trying to blow off some anger or something. She recognized this because she had done something similar a few times herself when she was having a bad day or was just in a bad mood, but unlike Hope, she was able to not make it as obvious most of the time. At least, that's what she figured. Even after the beast was defeated, their troubles were not over though, because they had clearly tripped a security alarm, and instead of worrying about it like he had been when it came to things like this, Hope just acted like it was okay and said to let the security teams come, like he was asking for a bigger challenge, and that worried Lightning a little. Looking over to Spider-Man, she could see that the web-head was also concerned about the kid, given how Spidey was watching after him very attentively, and somehow, Lightning just knew that he was sporting a very worried look behind that mask of his.

It was not until after a few more fights with monsters and the point when they had managed to get back up on the walkways that Lightning finally found a chance to confront Hope about what was going on with him. They had just gotten out of a particularly nasty fight, and Lightning had told the kid to take a few minutes to rest, a suggestion that Spidey fully agreed with, especially given how hard Hope was panting in exhaustion while he was bent over with his hands on his knees before he finally just collapsed onto the floor beneath him. The trio then found a large branch to take cover under like the one they had before, and spent the rest of their break recuperating there. At some point, Hope had even gotten out the survival knife that Lightning had loaned to him, and proceeded to check it over while carefully fiddling with it, catching the other two's attention. Seeing this reminded Lightning once again of how the kid had been since their previous talk, and during their last few battles, so she decided that now was as good a time as any to confront him on it.

"What's eating you," Lightning asked. When Hope said nothing in response, she knew that likely meant he was not too willing to open up about it, but that was not going to stop her. "Okay, I can tell you're hung up on something. Is it the l'Cie thing?"

"Somehow I doubt that," Spider-Man told her as he glanced at Hope, already having a pretty good guess as to what it was that was bothering the kid. "It's Snow, isn't it?"

While Lightning was surprised that Spidey would suggest something like that, she was even more surprised to see Hope pause in what he was doing before glaring off to the side a little bit, confirming the web-head's guess. Seeing as she was the only one in their group who was not around when the events that started the animosity that Hope held in regards to Snow had occurred, Lightning could not help but ask, "What happened with him?"

Spider-Man was not about to answer, since it was not his place to say, and instead, just looked to Hope, prompting the boy to speak up and tell Lightning. Hope did no such thing, but instead just replied, "You wouldn't understand."

That got both superhero and ex-soldier to take a knee beside him, while the former said, "You won't really know that for sure until you tell us. Besides, the three of us are a team, Hope. You can trust us to have your back, just like we already trust you to have ours, but part of that includes letting us help you with whatever problems you might be having."

Hope looked between the two for a minute, seeing Lightning nod in agreement with Spider-Man's statement, and even though he could not completely see Spidey's eyes behind the lenses of his mask, he could still somehow see the sincerity in both of the two's gaze, and simply sighed before he did as asked. "My mother was killed…because of him," Hope revealed, startling Lightning a little on the inside. "It's his fault. Well, maybe that's not entirely accurate. Snow just wanted to help get us back home, but he couldn't do that without help. I know that, but I can't just let it go that easily. Snow holds almost as much responsibility for that as the Sanctum does for getting her killed. They both need to pay for it. I'm not ready yet, but I will be. Soon. That's part of the reason why I followed you guys."

"Should I take that to mean you've decided what you're going to do when you finally decide on what Snow's fate will be," Spider-Man asked, remembering the confrontation the two had in the Vestige. When Lightning threw him a confused look, wondering what he was talking about, Spider-Man said, "Hope confronted Snow about this, and the big guy got down on his knees and apologized for what happened. He said that he would accept whatever fate that Hope thought he deserved, so long as Hope let him save Serah and fulfill the promise that he made to Hope's mother first."

"And you agreed to that," Lightning asked.

"Yeah…I thought that he had dragged us all into this. You and me, your sister, Serah…even Spidey in a way. But…after hearing him say all of that…I wasn't really sure what to do. Snow really seemed to regret getting my mom killed, and I didn't know what to do after that," Hope admitted as he pocketed Lightning's knife once again and stood up, showing he was ready to move on again. "I'm not sure I can forgive him, but…I don't know what I should do when the time finally comes. All I know is that someone's gotta pay."

Lightning turned to gaze sadly after Hope, honestly feeling sorry for him. In a way, she blamed Snow for a lot of the things that had happened to them at first like Hope had, and probably still did, but she was starting to see that it was not entirely Snow's fault. Thinking back to their earlier conversation, Lightning was starting to see that saying the things she did about Snow and his little gang was probably not helping the kid with making a good decision in regards to what he should do the next time he saw Snow. She had most likely given Hope an even lower opinion of the guy than he likely already had. Despite that small mistake, even if it was one made out of ignorance of Hope's feelings regarding Snow, Lightning knew that there was still time to keep Hope from going down the path that he seemed to be traveling along, and she was determined to do just that. There was no way that she was going to let Hope fall down a path of revenge like that. The kid was just too good to taint his spirit like that, and a simple exchange of glances was all that Lightning needed to know that Spider-Man felt the same way.

With their break over for now, Lightning took it upon herself to take over the lead position from Hope, feeling that he had more than enough time on point for now, and that he was likely not going to be able to handle it as well with everything that was now on his mind. No one argued with her, and the trio was soon jumping right back into the fire as they continued onward. Most of the monsters they encountered after that point were swiftly dealt with due to a quick blast or slash from Lightning's gunblade or due to a blast of webbing from Spider-Man's web-shooters, but Hope did contribute a little by blasting larger groups aside with more Fira spells like the one he had used earlier. Lightning actually encouraged the kid to use the spell as often as he could without tiring himself out, because it would be very beneficial in the long run for Hope to get used to using more powerful spells so that he would not feel as drained afterwards in the future. Still, that did not keep Hope from feeling a little envious of the kind of things that the other two were able to do, especially in regards to the weaponry they utilized, because compared to their equipment, he felt like his own was severely lacking in several different fields. After all, how could he really do all that much when the only weapons he had were his boomerang and the survival knife that Lightning had lent him.

After watching Lightning cut through a large, overhanging branches that was blocking their path forward in just one single stroke, Hope finally felt the need to approach the matter, and stepped up to the rosette. "Could I use one of those," Hope tentatively asked.

"Bit too heavy for you," Lightning denied as she spun her gunblade back into its holster.

"Okay," Hope sighed in disappointment.

Spider-Man instantly picked up on this and stepped over to Hope as he said, "Hey, just because we seem to have cool stuff, it doesn't mean that we're better than you are. I don't know if you've noticed, but Lightning isn't really the greatest when it comes to the magic you guys can use. Heck, I don't even have any of said magic, and yet I'm still somehow able to get by alright."

Lightning would have snapped at Peter for his remark on her skills with l'Cie magic had it not been for two things. One, she could see that Peter was trying to lift Hope's spirits and keep the kid from thinking he was not doing enough for the team just because of how he was not doing as much now as he was before, and two, she knew he was technically right. "I just don't know. I mean, how much help have I really been? Sure, I'm good with magic, but the energy I need to use it does run out, and all I'm left with after that is my boomerang and the knife that Light gave me. That's really not all that much, considering," Hope argued.

Somehow, Spidey knew that would be the kid's response and he had a counterpoint of his own all set. "Hope, I'm going to level with you here. Back in my universe, I'm considered the underdog of the superheroes by a lot of people, myself included. There are times when I think that even the guys who don't have powers are better than me for a variety of reasons. More than that, having the proportionate powers of a spider is really not all that impressive when compared to guys who can shoot lightning, get stronger the angrier they get, move things with their mind, change reality with a thought, shoot energy blasts, or are just practically gods. Even the story of how I got my powers isn't that impressive compared to other heroes. And you know something? I'm okay with that. Sure, it bothers me from time to time, but then either I think about what I've been able to do, or someone else reminds me of those accomplishments, along with pointing out that not even teams like the Avengers were able to pull off what I did alone."

"Really," Hope asked. When Spidey nodded in response, Hope could not help but ask, "So what exactly are you trying to say?"

"Just this: it's not about the tools someone uses. It's the person using them," Spidey advised. "You're doing a lot of really good work using what you currently have at your disposal, and I'd bet that a lot of others wouldn't be able to last even a quarter as long as you have, so take pride in that if nothing else." Seeing that his words brought a smile to Hope's face, Spider-Man then reached into his belt and extracted a spare web-shooter, which he then presented to Hope as he said, "But, if you really think you need more of an edge, you can borrow this. It's not as deadly as Light's fancy sword, but it definitely does have a lot of uses. I should know since I came up with a good number of them. And who knows, you might think of a few different ideas for using the webs that I haven't yet."

Hope's smile grew a little more in appreciation, both for Spidey's words and his lending him a spare web-shooter, but he quickly became more concerned when he asked, "Are you sure you won't need this? I mean, you can't possibly have that many spares on you."

"You're right. That's actually the only one I have left, seeing as I gave the other one to Snow before we split up from him," Spider-Man confirmed. That earned him worried looks from both Lightning and Hope, but he quickly reassured them, "Relax. I'll manage with the two I've got on me. Besides, I've lasted this long without carrying spare web-shooters on me at all times, and my current ones are a lot more durable than my previous pairs, so I think I'll be okay." He then paused for a minute before adding, "I'll still want it back later though. Gotta keep the thing in top condition with the usual maintenance that comes with having these things you know."

That earned a small round of laughter from Hope and a small smile from Lightning, and the trio was soon moving onwards once again. Of course, the path forward did mean that they would run into more monsters, but they did not have a hard time dealing with whatever creatures they came across. If she were to be honest, Lightning was a lot more concerned about when they started running into soldiers from the Observation Battalion, and she was not hesitant on expressing that concern. When Spider-Man reassured her that they would not be too much trouble for the three of them, she initially thought that he was starting to become as arrogant as Snow, but after thinking about it, she realized that the web-head was probably right to be confident. After all, this was a man who had fought alongside and against extremely powerful beings for most of his life. Add in the fact that he had helped them to fight the Pulse fal'Cie without any hesitation, along with how he was now well aware of what both she and Hope were capable of, and it would only make sense that Spidey would not be too worried.

This was only proven to be all the more true when they came up on the next grouping of monsters that were in their way. Spidey had paused and from what Lightning could tell, he appeared to be studying them thoroughly, but that did not really turn out to be the case, because the next thing she and Hope knew, the web-head had turned to her and said, "Hey Light, care to have a little contest to see who can take down the most monsters?"

If it were not for her rigid self-control, Lightning would likely have fainted from disbelief at this sudden proposal. "Please tell me you're joking," the ex-soldier deadpanned.

"No, I'm being serious here. Besides, it's fun. I used to do that kind of thing all the time with guys like Wolverine, Iceman, even Shang-Chi and Daredevil on occasion," Spider-Man insisted. "Besides, don't you want to hear the stakes?"

Lightning was about to refuse his offer to make the next fight a competition, but the minute he mentioned that last bit, she could not help but feel a bit curious. "Keep talking."

"If I win…you have to tell me your real name. No little hints, no telling me which of my guesses so far was closest, and no trying to sell me a fake one just to keep it to yourself a little longer. Your actual, real name," Spider-Man stated with finality that was somehow still a bit playful. "And if you win…well, I'll leave that up to you. Go on and pick anything you want."

Lightning could not help but feel like he was trying to cheat his way into learning her real name, since he had stated that he was only going to keep guessing until he got it, but then again, she had to admit that hearing him make random guesses every few hours or so was starting to get a little old. Besides that, hearing that he was willing to let her set the conditions for what would happen if she won made her all the more eager to accept. The only problem was figuring out just what she wanted to gain from winning this. It was really hard to come up with something Peter would not usually do, but she blamed that on the fact that, despite how much she had learned about him, she still knew almost nothing about him at the same time. When that thought crossed her mind, Lightning instantly had what she would consider a stroke of brilliance, and she had to smirk a little at the idea that had formed in her mind.

"Alright," Lightning announced after taking another few minutes of silence, just to keep her challenger on edge for a minute longer. "If I win…You have to answer any question that I want to ask you, with complete honesty, and you can't leave out any details at all."

"What? That's it," Spidey asked in disbelief, having expected a little something more from Lightning than that. He did have to admit though, she had picked quite the interesting condition, and he had a feeling he knew why she did. She wanted to learn more about him, and she knew that there was likely going to be a topic that he would not just tell her without good reason, so she wanted to fast forward through the process of getting that information like he was doing with his condition. All he had to do was hope that she did not pick a topic that was too personal to him, or that he did not like thinking about, let alone talking about. Either way, he did not hesitate to meet her gaze with a confident, albeit hidden one of his own as he said, "You've got a deal." He then looked to Hope and asked, "Hey, you want in on this too, Hope?"

"No thanks," Hope instantly declined. "There's no way I could win a competition like that against you two right now, or any time soon for that matter."

The other two just shrugged in response, neither of them arguing or agreeing with the boy's assessment of his skills, at least not out loud, and they then turned their attention to the monsters ahead of them before they charged in with a pair of battle cries. Even though he was still providing them support with various types of spells, such as defense or strength boosting magic, Hope really ended up spending more of the battle just watching the two go at it. He even went so far as to even keep score for the two at one point in case either of them miscounted. That did not last very long, since he eventually lost count for both of them, but that was a small loss in his book because he was able to watch a spectacle unlike anything he had ever seen up until now.

Hope already knew that both Lightning and Spider-Man were strong fighters on their own, and they were also a great team as well, but he had never really seen just how good a team the two were when it was just the two of them fighting, or at least doing most of the fighting in this case. Even though they were technically having a contest to see which of them would get more monsters than the other, they were still fighting with fluidness, grace, and synchronicity that was suitable for a pair that had fought side-by-side for years, or for two people who just knew each other so well. Every time Lightning slashed at something, Spider-Man was able to spin around over her to finish it off with a hard kick, and when Spidey got something tied down in his webs, Lightning was able to either blast it or cut it down with her gunblade. At one point, Light had even launched a particularly large monster into the air, and that lead Spidey to jump right above it, and the slam it back down to the ground by sling-shooting himself right into it from above. This favor was soon returned when the web-head had ensnared a pair of monsters with some Impact Webbing, and then used a web-line to toss them up into the air, where Light finished them off with either a leaping slash or a blast of thunder magic. In all honesty, it was almost like watching a wondrous yet deadly dance in Hope's eyes, and he was not even sure if they were going all out.

The two continued their combined assault until there was nothing left for them to fight, and if any monsters were still left, they had likely fled the area long ago after seeing the two warriors tearing into the other ones so easily. Seeing that the fight was over, Spider-Man relaxed his battle stance and confidently strode over to Lightning as he declared, "Well, by my count, I've taken down at least eleven of those monsters. How many did you get, Light?"

Lightning said nothing for a minute, until she finally spun her gunblade back into its holster, smirked, and replied, "Thirteen. Looks like I win."

Spidey could not help it. He ended up slack-jawed in surprise when he heard that, and just like that, his respect and admiration for Lightning had grown a little stronger. When he realized this, he was insanely glad that his mask hid his face completely, because otherwise, everyone on Cocoon would have been able to see the crimson blush that had formed on it. Once he was sure that he would be able to speak without his voice hitching at all, Spidey looked to Light, who was still smirking victoriously, surprisingly, and asked, "Alright, a deal's a deal. You can ask me any one question you want and I'll hold nothing back from my pure, honest answer. So, what do you want to know, Carla?"

Lightning's smirk faltered a little for a minute, as she had not quite decided on what to ask Peter just yet. She was not going to let him know that though, but she was not going to waste this little reward on some random thought, so she simply settled on saying, "I'll let you know when I want to collect on that. And by the way, wrong guess, once again."

The grunt of irritation that had followed from Spider-Man was obviously more playful than it was serious, and while Lightning was still smirking both at her victory and out of humor from Spidey's reaction, Hope was now unable to do anything but look on at the two in awe. They had just done something so incredible, and yet to them, it seemed as though it was like nothing more than second nature. Watching them talk with one another now, he could also see something else that the two did not seem to have noticed yet, and he could only smile in response to seeing this. Even after he was brought out of his musings so that they could move on, Hope continued to smile, knowing that these two he had decided to follow, were not only the strongest people he had ever met, but they were also two people that were clearly growing much closer to one another than either of them probably realized. That thought made him chuckle a little bit, because he knew that if she were here, Vanille would likely say something about love being in the air, and he would honestly have had to agree with her on that.

* * *

The group encountered very few monsters after the group that Lightning and Spidey had used for their competition, but there were still monsters here and there all the same. Not that surprising though, considering that it would have been strange if they did not encounter any monsters in an area that was being used for bioweapons research and breeding monsters for the military to use, but it was still a relief that they did not encounter too many. What was surprising though was the fact that they still had yet to encounter any soldiers from the Observation Battalion. Light had been sure that they would have encountered at least one patrol by now, and yet they still had not seen so much as one hint of an approaching security force since that one patrol that they had hidden from much earlier. After a rather long elevator ride up to the next section of higher walkways, they quickly found out why they had not encountered the first patrol of soldiers, but at least two of them wished they had not.

Just ahead of them, lying all across the ground, were the bodies of three soldiers, each of which were members of the Observation Battalion judging by the colors of their armor, and given the damage to their armors, namely the massive gashes and tears, they had all been slaughtered by something really big and very dangerous. The sight was nothing new to Lightning or Spider-Man, seeing as they had seen similar states of injury before, but Hope could not help but feel worried and a little sick at the sight of these dead men. Of course, in Spidey's case, he still wished that it was not something he had seen before, because he would never get used to seeing dead bodies of any variety. Every time he did, he always began to feel a great surge of regret, and could not help but think that he could have done something to save them. He knew that it was silly to think like that, and that he could not save everyone, but that did not mean he was ever going to think that it was pointless for him to at least try.

None of that mattered though, as this was affecting Hope a lot more than either of the two more seasoned warriors, as evidenced by how nervous and even slightly sick he sounded when he asked, "What happened here?"

"Bad luck," Lightning replied as she analyzed the bodies of the fallen soldiers. "They came looking for us and found something worse."

"That's an encouraging thought," Spidey muttered, wondering why Lightning had to mention all of that, considering that they were now likely going to run into whatever it was that killed these men.

Hope on the other hand was more concerned about the soldiers lying before them, and quickly started to move towards them thinking he could help. When Lightning noticed this, she reacted instinctively and pushed the kid back as she shouted, "Don't touch anything!" After Hope had fallen back on the ground, he looked up at Lightning in slightly scared confusion as she added, "Control your emotions. If you want to survive, you forget about sympathy."

Hope just looked away, still confused and scared, and Lightning could tell that the kid still wanted to do something to help these fallen soldiers. At the same time though, the kid was now conflicted on what he should do. No doubt because this was the first time that any advice that Lightning or Spidey had given him had conflicted with something he honestly believed in so much, and that meant that Lightning had not quite done the best job of telling the kid why he needed to not mess with anything in regards to the dead soldiers. "How can I explain," Lightning muttered in thought. After a minute or so, she turned back to Hope and took a knee as she laid it out for him. "Think of it like a strategy. Focus on your ultimate goal and shut out everything else. Still your mind. Move on instinct. Let doubt take over, and despair will cripple you."

"Yeah, not gonna lie, Light. You suck at explaining things to kids without giving them dangerous ideas," Spider-Man argued, earning a glare from the ex-soldier. Peter ignored it though, because he could see that Hope was already taking Lightning's words to heart, mainly for a purpose that was anything but noble, and Peter already had a good idea what that purpose was. He then stepped over to Hope and said, "What Light is trying to say is that we can't save everyone, especially when in a situation like ours. It's good that you want to at least try, but sometimes, we have to accept that there's nothing we can do, be it because they're too far gone, because of how it would likely come back to bite us later, or because we just don't have the time."

Hope nodded in understanding, taking both of the two's words to heart, and then stood up again as he nodded. "Good. I'll take anything to help me get through this," Hope informed the two, earning nods from them both. For a moment, Spider-Man thought that maybe he had kept Hope from forming any new ideas about his revenge, but that idea was quickly dashed when the kid declared, "I'll call it Operation Nora."

"NORA," Lightning asked, thinking that Hope was referring to the name of Snow's gang.

"My mother's name," Hope explained, correcting Light's assumption, and telling her why he was calling it that all in one instant.

"…Your revenge?"

"Yes," Hope nodded. He could sense that both of the two adults were about to say something cliché in an attempt to talk him out of it, so he instantly spun around to face them and cut them off preemptively by saying, "Don't tell me. I know getting revenge on Snow or anyone else responsible won't…bring her back. I know that! But 'sorry' won't cut it."

Lightning looked away sadly, knowing that she really did not have much of a place to talk if she were to try and reprimand the kid for thinking like that. She was still hurting from what had happened to Serah, and she blamed the fal'Cie for doing it. Not just the Pulse fal'Cie, but all fal'Cie, be it Pulse or Sanctum. That was why she had determined to destroy Eden and the Sanctum, so she could get some form of revenge for Serah. Lightning knew that getting revenge would not bring Serah back, even if Snow was right and she was still alive in that crystal prison, but right now, she too felt like "sorry" was not going to be enough, and that was really the only thing that was keeping her going at the moment. Well, that might not be entirely accurate. If it were not for Peter, she probably would not have been able to keep going at the rate she had been, and she likely would have gone completely nuts by now. That thought made her gain a slight tinge of pink on her face that she quickly shook away. Though it was mostly because Spidey had something to say in response to Hope's words, and she wanted to hear whatever words of wisdom the web-head had for the kid.

"Snow didn't kill your mother, Hope," Spider-Man informed the kid, gaining Hope's full attention. "If anything, the Sanctum is what was responsible, and they had made Snow the unwilling weapon for the deed."

"Whose side are you on, Spidey," Hope demanded.

"The side of what's right, and more than that, it's as someone who's been where you are now," Spider-Man revealed, startling Hope, while Lightning just watched on in slight surprise, since she had a strong hunch in regards to what he was talking about. "As you already know, my aunt is…was my only living family, and she had raised me as her own son. What you don't know is that she did not do it alone. She had my late uncle to help. He had been like a father to me ever since he and my aunt took me in after my parents died. That was right up until one night when a crook broke in and murdered my uncle all for his lousy car, and like you, I wanted to get revenge. It was easy to track down my uncle's killer since I had just gotten my powers not even long before that, and once I had him cornered it would have been just as easy for me to end him, take from that man what he took from my uncle."

"So…Did you do it," Hope asked. Lightning could not blame the kid for asking that question, because she was curious about this as well. She knew that Peter had found his uncle's killer, but he never told her what he did after discovering said killer's identity. Sure, that was mostly due to the fact that it was more shocking to discover that said killer was someone that Peter had a chance to stop before what had happened, but that did not mean she did not at least want to know how Spider-Man had taken his revenge.

Spider-Man did not answer right away, and from what the other two could tell, he seemed he was struggling to get it out. They could not blame him, since this was likely something he did not really enjoy remembering. Finally, the web-head took a deep breath and replied, "No, I didn't. I wanted to, believe me, but even then, I knew that my uncle would never have approved. He had always tried to teach me that with great power, there must also come great responsibility, and if I had killed that crook, I would've been throwing that lesson back in his face while spitting on my uncle's grave. So, I chose to walk away and be the better man. To be Spider-Man."

Both Hope and Lightning were silent with shock at that response. They both knew that Spidey was a good person that had a very strict no-killing policy that he seemed to almost never break, save for certain situations and circumstances, but they had no idea that he possessed that kind of strength. If anyone else had been in his place, they had to wonder if they would have been able to walk away without someone else's help like Spider-Man had, including themselves. No doubt, both of them had gained a new admiration and respect for the wall crawler as a result of this revelation, but they also gained a bit more concern when they saw that he had seemed to tense up a little, while the rest of his posture indicated that his story had been very draining for him, at least on an emotional level. At that point, it was not just admiration or respect that they felt for Peter, but also sympathy as well, one of them more so than the other since she knew more of the full story behind his uncle's death. It could not have been easy for him to divulge that information to anyone, let alone to friends like them, so it came as little surprise that Lightning was quick to place a comforting hand on his shoulder in response to this, much to Peter's silent gratitude.

After nodding to Lightning in thanks, Peter turned to Hope once again and continued on, still not finished with what he had to say to the kid. "I was one of the lucky ones though, because I've also seen just what kind of damage revenge can do to a person…And I saw it in someone who I once considered my best friend. His name was Harry Osborn, and he blamed me, as Spider-Man for the death of his father."

"Why would he do that," Hope asked.

"Partly because he didn't know the full truth about how his father died, and partly because he saw Spider-Man standing over his father's dead body after the fact," Spidey explained. "You see, Harry's father was a supervillain by the name of Green Goblin, and he was one of my worst enemies. The night he died, he had…done something incredibly terrible, and I did want to make him pay for it, but I didn't. Goblin was incredibly sick, mentally speaking, and I wanted to help him, but in the end, I never got the chance to. In a final attempt to kill me, Goblin ended up killing himself with his own weapon. His last request to me was that I don't tell Harry how he died. I honored that final wish, but sometimes, I feel like things would have been better if I hadn't. Yes, Harry's memory of his father would have been forever tainted, but at the same time, it may have also prevented Harry from taking up his father's mantle as the new Green Goblin in order to kill me once he found out that his best friend and Spider-Man were one and the same."

Hope and Lightning did not know what to make of that. Losing someone who had been like a father to you was one thing, but having your best friend turn on you in the way that Peter's had was truly something else. In all honesty, they were starting to wonder just how much loss Peter had really suffered in his life, and how he was able to deal with all of it after all these years. They put it aside, as Peter finally came to the final point he was trying to make. "So you see, revenge is like a poison. It can take us over, control us, and sooner or later, if you're not careful, it can and will turn you into something ugly. The only way you can stop that from happening is by being the better man."

Hope took all of that in, but he was not quite able to take it to heart just yet. He knew all of what Spidey was saying, but hearing it being said aloud was another matter entirely, and now, he was just more confused than ever on what he should do. This showed in his face and his voice when he looked to Spider-Man and asked, "So then…what should I do?"

He wished he had an answer for the kid, he really did, but sadly, Spidey had no other way to reply other than saying, "I wish I had the answer, Hope. I really do. I've never been able to forgive the man who killed my uncle, even if I have gotten better to the point where I might be able to someday, but unlike that crook that had killed my uncle, Snow did not mean for your mother to die, nor did he want her or anyone else on that bridge to die. In the end though, how you go about things is really up to you. Just promise me that when the time comes…you won't let thoughts of revenge dictate your actions, and that you'll at least think about it."

After hearing all of this, Hope found he could do nothing more than just nod in reply to Spider-Man, promising that he would at least try to do as the web-swinger asked. With all of that settled, the group headed out once again, now more on the lookout for soldiers than ever before, but one of them still had a few different things on her mind. Lightning was still in the midst of processing everything that she had just learned about Peter, and she had to admit, the man was only continuing to impress her with every new detail she learned. She had long since thought that Peter was one of those types of people who was able to forgive anyone for any injustice they had committed, be it against him or otherwise, but after hearing that he had still not forgiven the man who had killed his uncle, she was beginning to rethink that idea about him. Then again, considering that it was the man who had been like his father ever since he was a small boy who was killed, she could not say that she was too terribly surprised. Add in what she had learned about what had become of his best friend, or his former best friend from her understanding of his story, and it was all she could do to keep herself from walking up and wrapping her arms around him in a comforting hug.

That last thought made her stop in her march forward with the boys for a minute, and she instantly began to think about why she would even have such an urge like that. More importantly, this was now one more time on a long list of times where there came a moment that she wanted to do something for Peter, or just had thoughts or feelings that she was not entirely sure was typical to that of friendship. Even after she resumed her march forward, she continued running those various past moments through her mind, thinking about various reasons as to why she had reacted the way that she did in those moments, and why she had not been upset by them afterwards. Yes, those moments bothered her, but at the same time, they were not unpleasant to her either, and if she were to be honest, part of her actually did kind of want some of those moments to happen again, or at least certain parts of those moments, because other aspects she could certainly do without. Then, it hit her like a ton of bricks, and the shock of it was so surprising that she almost missed the squad of soldiers that was right around the corner looking for them as a result. Yes, Spidey and Hope pulled her back before they spotted her, but that was a small point for her in comparison to what she just realized.

 _'Could it be that…Am I actually falling for Peter,'_ Lightning wondered to herself.

* * *

For the rest of the trio's trip through the Gapra Whitewood, Hope and Spider-Man had taken up most of the workload when it came to fighting, much to their surprise. It was not that Lightning was not doing anything at all, but she was not doing as much as she had been before, or even in comparison to the two boys. Not only that, but at times when Peter had to jump in and help her in any variety of ways, the rosette would get flustered for some reason and instantly try to put some distance between the two of them. Peter did not have the first clue as to why Lightning was acting so strangely, but until it started to affect how she handled herself to a great extreme, he figured it was better to just leave it alone and let her sort it out. What he did not realize was that he was already heavily involved in the matter troubling Lightning, because he was the very thing that was constantly plaguing her mind.

After her little revelation, Lightning had looked over everything that had happened between her and Peter several times over, and every time she did, she always came back to the same conclusion: she was falling for Peter. The idea actually scared her a little bit, not that she would admit it. Lightning had long since sealed off her heart when it came to those kinds of feelings, at least in regards to anyone other than Serah, or at least she thought she had, but now that she was being bombarded by this sudden influx of strong feelings for Peter, she was not so sure just how sealed off she had made herself. More than that, she did not even know how to handle dealing with these feelings. It was not like she had ever actually dated anyone before; there was never any time for that sort of thing since she was so concerned about taking care of Serah and making sure the two of them had everything they needed growing up. Simply put, Lightning had no idea how to so much as deal with having a crush on a boy, let alone falling for one, and the fact that she could hear Serah teasingly saying "I told you so" in her head so much was not helping either.

Now do not misunderstand; Lightning was not against the idea of developing feelings for Peter. She would be the first to admit that he was a very good guy. He was smart, kind, cared about others (more than himself at times), rather handsome, and not to mention that his eyes were the softest brown she had ever seen while still holding a fire of courage and determination that rivaled that of the most hardened and experienced soldiers, and…that was beside the point! From what she had heard from Serah, or at least the romance novels that her sister read, Peter was likely the type of guy that girls would bring home to meet the parents, and any woman would be lucky to have him. That last idea gave her an unpleasant feeling as equally saddening thoughts entered her mind. Since Peter was such a good guy, both as Peter Parker and as Spider-Man, why on Earth would he ever feel something special for someone like her? She had pretty much sacrificed all of her own happiness for her sister, who was now likely gone forever, and in doing so, she had become a hardened soldier who would not blink at the thought of killing a target. Never mind the fact that some people would say that she could be as cold as ice, while some have described her as unforgiving as the very thing she was named for. It just did not seem likely that a selfless, brave, good man like Peter would ever actually have an interest in her.

These thoughts had left her so distracted that she did not realize they had ended up in the crosshairs of a massive, vicious monster that had been guarding the gate out of the Gapra Whitewood until after Spider-Man had pushed her out of the way of said monster's attacks. Neither of them had been hurt by said strike, but that did not keep Spidey from reprimanding Light for letting her head get into the clouds while they were in such a dangerous situation. Even though his words to her were spoken harshly, she could still sense a great deal of concern in his voice, and something else that she had not expected at all: Fear. He had honestly been afraid of what could have happened to her, probably even more so than Hope, who was now keeping them covered with a barrage of various spells and his boomerang. Realizing that the kid was fighting on his own, Lightning finally managed to take the advice she had tried to give Hope earlier on for herself, and shut out all distractions for the remainder of the fight.

Said battle did not last too terribly long with the three working together, even though the strange plant-like monster was constantly changing its elemental nature and attacks. Despite that one drawback, the three were able to power through and defeat it easily, with Hope declaring that Stage One of Operation Nora was completed afterwards. The kid was definitely taking what Lightning had said earlier about strategy to heart, but given the still uncertain look on his face, it was clear that he was also thinking about what Spider-Man had said earlier as well. Realizing this had drawn Lightning back to what she had been thinking about before, and it also made her have another realization: as long as she continued to let this bother her, it would keep her from focusing on the more important matters they were presently facing. That last fight was proof enough about that, so her solution was easy, even if it was her main fallback answer to many different things that bothered her.

 _'I can't let this distract me. I need to just put it aside and focus on what's important right now. Letting the possibility of stupid feelings of romance get into my mind will only make things difficult for all three of us,'_ Lightning mentally decided. She knew that it was for the best if she did not think about any growing attractions she might be having in regards to Peter, and even better if she did not concern herself with how the object of said affections might feel in return, so it just made sense to shut it down before it could cause any more problems for them. That still did not explain why the idea gave her a rather hollow, empty feeling though.

She cast any and all further thoughts on the matter out of her mind as their group's trek finally pulled them off of the metal pathways that were in the Gapra Whitewood and onto soft, yet rocky ground that lead out to an ocean view. That was not what the most important part was though. No, that honor belonged to the city resting in the cliffs along the water bank, which was only reinforced by how Hope's face lit up a little in recognition of the town. "That's it. Palumpolum," Hope declared, a bit of excitement and relief slipping into his otherwise stoic tone.

"That's where you live, right," Lightning asked Hope, thankful for the distraction, even though the man who had caused her confusing thoughts had come to stand just a few feet away from her. Hope just silently nodded in reply to Light's question, prompting her to add, "Well, guess you'll be home before you know it."

That did not seem to raise Hope's spirits any, as he just said, "I still don't think it's a good idea. You and I are l'Cie now, Light, and Spidey's considered a menace. I may not like my dad that much, but I don't want him to get dragged into this."

"We understand, Hope, but you still need to tell him what happened. L'Cie or not, I'm sure he'll be able to rest a little easier if he knows his son is alive," Spider-Man reassured Hope. When the kid still seemed unsure of the fact, Spider-Man decided to let Hope in on something about his old enemy that he had mentioned earlier. "You know, even before he became the original Green Goblin, Norman Osborn was not what I would call the best candidate for Father of the Year. In fact, Harry almost never saw his father outside of work, and even when he did, the man was almost always pushing Harry to be the absolute best while only noticing everything that Harry was failing in, especially when it came to school. There were even a few times when he would drag me into it by saying things that made it seem like he was trying to make Harry think that Norman would have preferred me as his son over him. Even so, Norman cared about Harry more than anything, in his own twisted way. He would have done anything to keep his only son safe, hence the reason why Norman had asked me to not tell Harry how he really died at the end. Despite what you may think your father cares a great deal about you, Hope."

Lightning could see the gears turning Hope's head after hearing that, not that she could blame him. Hearing Spider-Man talk about one of his late enemies like that had gotten her to thinking as well. She had figured that all of Spidey's enemies would have been your typical black-and-white bad guys, but just from hearing about this Green Goblin, she was now able to see that some of them had a bit more complexity to them than that. She had to move that aside for now, because Hope needed to really hear what the web-head was trying to tell him. "Like Spidey said before, Hope…you need to let him know what happened," Lightning gently told the boy.

Hope continued to hang his head in thought for a moment, until he finally nodded in acceptance of this, and then turned to lead the group the rest of the way to his hometown. In their minds, all three of them knew that getting this far was probably the easiest part of their quest. Getting into Palumpolum was likely only going to be a little more difficult, but no matter you sliced it, be it before or after they got into the city, one thing was absolutely certain: things were only going to get worse from here.

* * *

 ** _AN: Well, that happened. We saw some changes in regards to Snow's first encounter with Cid and The Cavalry, along with hearing Fang's current beliefs in regards to Spidey, and not only that, but Snow put the Spider-Tracer he was given to much better use than calling out for help if he got himself into trouble._**

 ** _Snow: I feel like that's going to play an important role later on in the story._**

 ** _AN: Good instinct. Aside from that, we also saw a little bonding time between Hope, Spidey, and Lightning, much like we did in the original storyline for the two actual FFXIII characters of that trio. Not to mention we also learned a little more Spidey history while we were at it._**

 ** _Hope: Hey, I've gotta ask. What exactly happened to this story's version of Harry Osborn? I mean, I know you said he became the new Green Goblin to get revenge on Spidey, but what happened after that?_**

 ** _AN: Well, I'd like to leave it to everyone's imagination, but I'm just gonna go ahead and say it. If I mention that detail in a future chapter, my apologies in advance for this rare moment of spoilers. After that whole run of drama, Harry got committed to Ravencroft, or whatever the mental institution a lot of Spidey's bad guys get sent to is called, so that he could get some help dealing with the insanity he had ended up falling into._**

 ** _Fang: Well that's depressing. Still, I guess there is a high point in all of this. Light's starting to realize her feelings for the web-head go a lot deeper than friendship._**

 ** _AN: Yes she is. Now before anyone gets on me for giving her this revelation so soon, I just want to point out that she's only realized that she's starting to fall for him, not that she's completely in love with him or anything. Not only that, but in typical Lightning Farron fashion, instead of dealing with those feelings and opening herself up, she's decided to push it aside for the moment. Sure, she has a good reason for doing so (they're on the run and need as few distractions as possible if they want to survive), but still, she's also not quite ready to open herself to a romantic relationship just yet, whether she's sure that's what her feelings are leading to or not._**

 ** _Serah: Seems a little disappointing to me. I mean, we were so close to finally seeing LightxSpidey happen, and then you just pulled out of our grasp! So not fair!_**

 ** _AN: Hey, if I made it start happening now, it wouldn't really be all that great. Besides, these things don't just happen right after such revelations are had. Gotta have some sense of realism in all of this, ya know? So sorry for those of you who thought that the main pairing of this story was finally going to unfold, but rest assured, this is indeed the first step in progressing towards it. In the meantime, there are other matters for the heroes to attend to. Find out a small idea of what I mean by moving...Onto the Preview!..._**

 ** _The trio begin making their way into Palumpolum, continuing what Hope had dubbed as Operation Nora, and as they are making their way through the underground levels of the city, Lightning comes to a startling revelation that will shake both hers and her friends' resolve. Even amidst whatever confusion her revelation brings, the trio are still ready to fight when they are caught in a trap by PSICOM, but they are not quite as ready for the surprises that follow after said trap is sprung. It's back into PSICOM's sights once again while another hero makes a smashing return, next time._**

 ** _Please read and review, and swing on back for next time fellow true believers!_**


	10. Palumpolum Problems

_**AN: Okay, so this chapter's going to be quite the long one, so I'm not going to waste everyone's time by blabbing too much with the characters so you guys can get right into it. Or at least, I'm going to try to. I can't say the same for the rest of the cast.**_

 ** _Sazh: And what's that supposed to mean?_**

 ** _AN:...I'm not going to answer that. Anyways, right down to business in the department of answering reviews. First off, to everyone who's wondering about the sequel/possible sequel...I guess it couldn't hurt to go ahead and tell you guys a few details since we're pretty close to the halfway point of this story, and it's definitely starting to look like I might go ahead with the idea I have in mind. For starters, Peter will end up in Etro's realm with Lightning at first, at least until Noel shows up, along with someone else: one Miguel O'Hara, Spider-Man 2099. Those two then go over to New Bodhum together to find Serah, and start their journey together, along with Peter shortly afterwards. Unlike in 13-2 though, they're not just going through time; they're also going throughout the Spider-Verse as well. The reason, Noel isn't the only one who's alone when he arrives in Etro's Realm. Caius has some additional support of his own: That being a very serious villain that has proven to be one of the worst that any Spider-Man has ever faced at one point or another in his life. So yeah, you've got two Spider-Men (Peter Parker and Miguel O'Hara) tag-teaming with Serah and Noel, while traveling through time and the Spider-Verse in order to stop Caius and his partner. One last thing, the worlds of the Spider-Heroes that they go to, they may not all be from cannon comics. There will be one or two in there that may come from my fanfictions, or even a few in there that may surprise you. I'll leave you to think on just what that last bit means._**

 ** _Snow: What? You're not going to tell them that after Spidey ends up in Etro's Realm he gets to..._**

 ** _AN: DAH! SPOILER! [hits control]_**

 ** _Snow: [suddenly gets dropped down a trap door that leads to a poisonous snake pit] AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH! SOMEBODY HELP ME!_**

 ** _AN: Phew. That was close. I said I was revealing a few major details, not every last thing. I want some of the things in the sequel to be a surprise, ya know._**

 ** _Hope: Have you come up with a title, yet?_**

 ** _AN: Still working on that, actually. Anyways, next review I'd like to answer, is in response to the reviewer "CRUDEN", namely his review for Chapter 9. Yes, I do indeed plan to do a Spider-Verse kind of event with all my stories that have Spider-Man in them, or at least a good number of them, and I don't just mean the sequel to this story, because that's more focused on events in 13-2 than anything else. You can find some information on that on my profile, but for those of you who are too lazy, you'll find it under Future Projects, entitle Enter the Spider-Verse: A Code Avengers Story. Mainly, it's basically a tie-in to my Code Avengers series, a crossover series between Avengers EMH and Code Lyoko, but it takes place at a future date that said series has yet to reach, and it will indeed feature the worlds of the Spider-Men from my other stories as Spider-Man and the Code Lyoko heroine Aelita travel throughout the Spider-Verse to stop the latest scheme of one of Spidey's greatest enemies._**

 ** _Lightning: I have to admit. I'm actually kind of interested in that._**

 ** _Spider-Man: Is it mostly because you and Aelita have similar hair color?_**

 ** _Lightning: Hmph, no. I just happen to think it would be a good story._**

 ** _Spider-Man: Sure Light. We believe you. [stage whispers] Please note the sarcasm._**

 ** _AN: Okay, that's really all I wanted to cover here this time around, so let's get moving. Like I said this is a long one._**

 _ **I do not own anything from any Spider-Man or Final Fantasy franchises or any other franchise mentioned in this story.**_

* * *

 **Chapter 10: Palumpolum Problems**

On a typical day, Palumpolum at mid-morning would be bustling with your typical crowds of people going about their daily lives, doing things like shopping, meeting with friends, or whatever you may think of. Today was not a typical day at all, as Sanctum soldiers were dropping down into the city in endless waves in an effort to quell a suspected threat from Pulse and the l'Cie from said world. The fact that so many members of the military were coming in was naturally making everyone nervous, but if you were to ask people about what made them more nervous between Pulse l'Cie and the Sanctum military, they would tell you the l'Cie every time. At least, anyone who was ignorant of the actual situation would tell you that, and that would apply to anyone who was not in Spider-Man, Lightning, and Hope's positions at the moment.

The three had made it past the entrance into the commerce capital without anyone noticing them, but just seconds after doing so, they found their way forward blocked by several trucks and groups of soldiers that comprised just one of the many task forces making up the Sanctum operations that were now taking place in Hope's hometown. You did not need a Spider-Sense to know that the three were likely going to be heading into trouble after they started moving forward again, but all the same, it did not seem to deter Hope's confidence too greatly. "We can make it," Hope declared, showing this fact the minute he just glanced at his protectors. "Get to the station, and board the train for Eden."

"Assuming it's still running," Spider-Man pointed out.

"Well, if it isn't, we'll make it run."

"Then punch straight into the heart of the Sanctum? Now you're thinking like a Pulse l'Cie," Lightning commented as she studied the way ahead, feeling like there was something odd about the groups of soldiers before them. At the same time, she could also not help but wonder if Hope was being a little reckless with the way he was thinking, but then again, it was not like she was any better at the moment, given that was pretty much her idea to begin with.

"You mean he would be if we were planning to go there and cause problems for Cocoon," Spider-Man pointed out. "We're not going to Eden to start a fight. We're going there to clear our names and prove we're the good guys."

"We know that, but this is Operation Nora," Hope reminded Spidey. "The Sanctum's still gotta pay for what it's done up until now." He looked over to Lightning to see if she would back him up on that, only to see that she had a hesitant look in her eyes, so he immediately grabbed her hand to give her a little shake as he said, "Hey, you're the one who said we had to fight, Light. Every minute we waste, we're tempting fate."

Spidey was about to argue with Hope, but he did know that he was right to say that they would be taking a big risk if they just waited around in one place for too long. That, and Lightning could not help but point out, "He is right about one thing. If we do want to get through, we're going to have to fight at some point."

That earned a nod from the web-head, because he knew that she was right. With this many soldiers just at the entrance to Palumpolum, there was no doubt that they would encounter even more inside, and getting past them unnoticed was just like asking for a miracle. He then turned to Hope and said, "All right, Hope. This is your home turf, so you got any ideas on how we can avoid being noticed right away? Maybe we will have to fight, but it would be a good idea to at least not have to do it right away. We'll need as much of our strength as possible for when we get into some serious trouble."

Hope instantly nodded and pointed to a distant area off to the side as he said, "There's some underground tunnels not far from here. I used to play in them when I was a kid. No one uses the entrance anymore, so even the army doesn't know about it. But I know where it is. We can sneak in under their noses."

"And now you're thinking like a Spider-Hero," Spidey complimented.

"Sounds good," Light nodded in agreement.

Hope just beamed in response to both of the comments. Hearing that kind of thing from Spider-Man and Lightning really made his day, but he would have to celebrate that fact later, so he simply steeled his resolve as best as he could and turned to move again as he said, "Great! Here we go."

The two boys of the group were practically off and running the minute Hope had said that, but they were quickly pulled back into cover again when Lightning realized what had seemed so odd about the soldiers before them. "PSICOM's brought in the Guardian Corps," Lightning noted for the two boys from behind their cover, indicating the soldiers who were wearing the armor and uniforms that were synonymous with said military division.

"Well that's just great. Rivalries are over but at our expense, and you've now gotta fight some of your old coworkers," Spidey sarcastically commented.

"That's only if anyone from the Bodhum Security Regiment is here," Lightning pointed out. "Either way, we're going to have quite the fight on our hands when we go on the offensive."

"Let's avoid that for the moment. Remember, we're trying to avoid being noticed right away, so let's try to go a route where we'll only be noticed by very few or no soldiers at all," Spider-Man pointed out.

"There's an old drainage pipe just ahead. We can use it to avoid being seen," Hope informed the two. "The tunnel entrance is a little further up from there."

"Oh good. We're going to go through the sewers. Like I didn't do that enough back home when fighting about half of my rogues gallery," Spider-Man sighed in continued sarcasm.

Lightning and Hope both gave Spidey odd looks for that remark, but decided to save the questions for later this time and instead waited for an opportune moment to move forward and into the drainage pipe. Spider-Man had wanted to web up some of the soldiers so that they could speed things up, but Lightning dismissed that idea before he could even attempt to fold his fingers over the trigger of his web-shooters. She explained that if Spidey were to use any of his webs right now to restrain so much as one soldier, then the Sanctum troops would know in an instant that at least one of them was here, and getting through to the train to Eden would become that much more difficult, never mind getting to Hope's house, because they were still going to do that, no matter how much the boy wished otherwise, and Peter had to agree with her on that. His webbing would eventually dissolve, sure, but it would still be some time before that happened, and if he was not careful about where he webbed someone up, the restrained person would be easily spotted by a passing patrol, so he did his best to restrain himself from using anything other than a short web-line to move forward for the time being.

Getting through to the drainage pipe was easy, and just like Hope said, it did not seem to have been used in quite some time, so they did not have to worry about trudging through any nasty liquids that they did not want to think about the contents of. More than that, they were also glad to see that it also ran right under both the patrols and the barricades that had been set up to bar their way in, so that was another welcome relief to them all. The only downside was that it could not take them all the way to the tunnel entrance; they needed to get through a second pipe in order to do that, and unfortunately, that left them open to the few soldiers that were patrolling the area. Hope and Spider-Man were quick to fire off a few webs from their respective web-shooters, binding the soldiers where they stood for a moment. A moment that Lightning was able to use in order to swiftly remove them from the equation with a few simple swings of her gunblade and a couple of spells. Thankfully, Lightning's spells had also erased any traces of the webbing that had been left behind, so there was little reason to worry about that, but still, there was one or two soldiers that had not been felled by Light's blade, and those were webbed up to walls or crates that were well out of anyone's sight for the moment, something that Spidey had made sure to do when he had snagged them in his webs.

Finally, the trio made it through to the tunnel that Hope had indicated, and set off down into the depths below Hope's home, hoping that they would not face too much more trouble while they were down there. Though they did not breathe any sighs of relief until Hope finally confirmed that they had reached the safe area of the tunnel, or at least the area that was safer in comparison to where they were before. When they entered said area, Spidey had to pause in awe for a moment at their new surroundings. Even compared to the other underground locations that he had been in, this place was incredible on so many levels. There were multiple different floating platforms moving back and forth between the walkways they would no doubt need to take in order to get through, while the area itself seemed to go on forever if you were to look down or up. No doubt this place covered the entirety of Palumpolum's underground just as Hope had said, but the fact had not really registered for Spidey until just now. The crowning point of it all was a large, glowing object that was in the center of the area, at least what Spidey assumed was the center of the area, and slowly spinning around. He could not really tell much about what it was from this distance though, and right now, he was not really much for caring, considering that there was a chance that the Sanctum soldiers could wander in at any moment.

Apparently Lightning shared his sentiment, and Hope must have noticed given how on edge they both were. "Don't worry, it'll be fine. Only kids like me know about that entrance," the boy reassured the two as they continued keeping their eyes peeled for any sign of an enemy.

"They'll find it," Lightning disputed. "They'll call in a team, and canvass the whole tunnel system."

"Then I guess we can't afford to just stand around all day," Spider-Man commented, nodding for Hope to lead on. When the boy nodded and began to move forward again, the superhero and ex-soldier fell into step behind him with the former then asking, "So do you have any idea where this place comes out at?"

"Well, it…it-I don't really know for sure," Hope stuttered in admittance.

That spiked Spidey's concern to a whole new level, while Lightning just seemed to take that as a challenge as she patted Hope on the shoulder as she walked past him and said, "We'll find out today."

Spider-Man could only sigh, thinking that this was just like the last two areas that they had been traveling through all over again, and moaned, "Here we go again. This whole going through unknown places without any foreknowledge at all is going to get us killed sooner or later, you guys know that, right?"

The web-head's words went mostly ignored, as the other two seemed to be a bit more focused on getting through, so Peter just figured that for now, he should just go with the flow and whine about this reoccurring nightmare they kept getting into later. After all, there was still likely to be some variety of security system or domesticated monsters down there with them, and that proved true when they eventually came upon what Peter could only describe as living sludge with arms and hardhats. Hope quickly identified them as Flanitors, creatures that were mainly bred to maintain the operations that happened in their current location, Nutriculture Complex, at least in regards to Palumpolum, and despite what one would think, he also assured Spidey that the creatures would leave their group alone so long as they left them alone. Even so, Peter was not all that eager to get too close to the sludge-like janitors, as Lightning had described them, be it in regards to attack range, or smelling range, because he was sure that they did not have a pleasant odor about them. That was still nothing compared to what they had discovered afterwards.

When they were finally close enough to the center of the area, Spider-Man was able to see that the large, spinning object in said location was actually yet another fal'Cie. The two extensions that spun around it's diamond shaped center had a face on the outside that gave the appearance of it being asleep, and that alone was enough to confirm what it was without Hope identifying it for them. "That's the city's food-production fal'Cie. Name's Carbuncle," the boy explained. He then narrowed his eyes a little and added, "That's one of our enemies, being Sanctum and all."

"So…kill him, and cut off the food supply. That'll make us popular," Lightning noted.

"Yeah let's not get crazy, Light. People already hate us enough without us messing with their food," Spidey warned off, with Hope nodding in agreement. "Trust me, hungry people make for much angrier people."

"Fair enough," Lightning shrugged in agreement. "But it's not like we can't at least take advantage of this thing in some way."

Spider-Man did not quite get what Lightning was implying, but Hope was able to catch on quick enough. "We can use it as a landmark and head in its direction. Maybe even find a way that will lead us out."

Light instantly nodded in agreement, confirming that Hope's idea was exactly what she had in mind, and the three were soon heading off once again. Heading for the fal'Cie at the center was easier said than done though, as the walkways of the complex were like a large maze when it came to navigating. Thankfully, Hope and Spider-Man were able to figure out a way to keep track of which paths they had been down already, and which they had not, so that made things a little easier. Lightning would have pitched in here and there, but she was good at keeping track of where they had already been without the need of any markers, so she put most of her focus on dealing with any monsters that did decide to try and attack them. Sure it might have been reckless to try and fight such battles on her own, but that would imply that she was doing all the fighting herself, and she most certainly was not, especially since Spider-Man seemed intent on making sure that he was always watching her back, something that almost drew her mind back to what she had been thinking about in regards to her feelings towards him for a moment or two. Almost.

All the same, knowing that there was a Sanctum fal'Cie looking down at them, despite whatever outward appearance it gave off did leave Spidey feeling a little nervous. What if it realized that Lightning and Hope were Pulse l'Cie or that he was the menace that had been reported about in that news report they had heard just the other day? Would it sound some kind of alarm out to the rest of the Sanctum, or would it just send the monsters in the area after them in an attempt to purge them from its location? Neither of those two scenarios, nor any of the other ones that Spider-Man's mind thought up were very appealing to the web-head, so that was all the more reason for him to hurry them along in finding the way out. Hope and Lightning on the other hand, could not help but take a moment to pause and note the irony behind the whole thing that was going on right now.

"Look at us: Pulse l'Cie and a 'masked menace,' using a Sanctum fal'Cie to tell where we're going. Sort of strange," Hope had remarked once they had reached another open area where they could take a breath once again, all the while observing Carbuncle as he did along with Lightning.

"Not really," Lightning shrugged, drawing Spidey's full attention away from getting out as fast as possible and into the conversation. "We've relied on them our whole lives. The food we eat, the light and water, it's all from the fal'Cie. You know, I think Cocoon was really built for them. The rest of us, we're just leeches. Parasites."

"That's a pretty dismal way of thinking," Spidey remarked. "I mean, if Cocoon was built for the fal'Cie, then how come both fal'Cie and humans all live here together? And more than that, who even built Cocoon in the first place, and why? Was it really just to be some kind of artificial moon where the fal'Cie could live and play god with the humans inside of it?"

"Well, it's said that the fal'Cie deity Lindzei created Cocoon to be a safe haven from the dangers of Pulse, though no one really knows who it's protecting specifically. At least, in regards to whether it's protecting the fal'Cie it created in order to maintain Cocoon or the humans who live here," Lightning revealed. "It doesn't really change my point though."

"You think," Hope asked, following along his own train of thought as he did. "They protect us, nurture us. They take care of, well, normal people."

"Thanks for that. I'm sure no one here's the least bit insulted," Spidey quipped in good humor, gaining a small smile from Hope while the most reaction that Lightning gave was the corners of her mouth turning upwards a little. Hope resumed was he was saying soon after though.

"The treat us like we're special, almost like…" Hope had to pause for moment to think of the right analogy, until he finally clapped in his hands in success at finding it before he turned to his two protectors. "Like we're pets!"

That realization caused both Spidey and Light to go wide-eyed in shock, but while the former was stunned by this idea, and a bit upset by it, the latter seemed to be having an entirely different revelation of her own. "Like pets," Lightning muttered as she stared at Carbuncle in shock, slowly moving forward a little as her mind whirled with all kinds of different thoughts and conclusions, while Hope and Spider-Man both watched her in concern. "To them, we are just pets," Lightning said in barely more than a whisper, though somehow, it was still loud enough to practically echo for the two boys who were with her. "That's it. Now it makes sense! I've been so blind."

"Uh Light," Spidey called out in concern, but it did not seem like the rose-haired woman heard him, as she simply continued on with voicing what was currently running through her head.

"I was born into a fal'Cie world, raised on a fal'Cie leash. It was the only life I knew how to live. When it was taken from me, I was completely lost. Without a master to follow, my life had no purpose," Lightning finally concluded. Her eyes then seemed to become like steel as she looked to the others and said, "Hope, Spidey, listen to me. This l'Cie curse, it took everything from me. My future. My dreams. I didn't want to think, so I fought instead. As long as I was fighting, nothing else was real. I was running away. And you two…You got swept along with me."

"Yeah, I could've told you all of that a long time ago. In fact, I practically did. This isn't really that much of a revelation, Light," Spider-Man pointed out.

"But it is because now I know the reason as to why," Lightning insisted.

"Guys…I don't really understand what you're both getting at," Hope cut in.

Lightning looked from the masked man she had come to call a friend to the young boy that had been traveling with them, and informed them of one simple thing that she figured could only be the result of what she had now learned. "Operation Nora is over."

"Come again/What," Spider-Man and Hope both asked at the same time.

Lightning was not sure what else she could say at that point, but Hope had a few choice words for her. "You told me to fight," the boy shouted.

"I made a mistake," Lightning snapped.

"You can't do this! You can't just build something up like that, then abandon me," Hope argued.

"Hey, hey! Everybody calm down a minute," Spider-Man interjected. "No one is abandoning anyone here, okay? And nothing is over just yet." Seeing the two turn to him, Spidey went on to explain, "Operation Nora as Lightning knows it, or even as you originally knew it to be may be over, but the truth is, it's not actually over until you find that answer Hope. The answer on what you should do in regards to your revenge. Maybe some mistakes were made along the way to this point, maybe they weren't, but bottom line is, no matter what happens from here on out, we're all in this together. More than that, Light, if you really believe what you've just said, about how humans are nothing but pets to the fal'Cie, then maybe it's high time we showed them that we're more than that. And not just them, but everyone in Cocoon as well."

Lightning and Hope both glanced down and to the side, thinking over what Spider-Man had just said, but gave no other response than that, until Lightning came around to stand in front of Hope, placed her hands on his shoulders to draw his attention to her, and assured him, "Like Spidey said, Hope, we won't abandon you. I won't."

Hope seemed to be a little more reassured by that, but not by that much, because he eventually shrugged her off and said, "I can't just throw in the towel. Not right now."

Peter and Lightning could then only watch as Hope started off again, heading forward to wherever the path would take them after this. Peter had already said what he felt that he could for the moment, while Light had to wonder if she had done the right thing just now while contemplating Peter's words at the same time. In the end though, none of that mattered now. They needed to keep moving forward and keep protecting Hope, and they were not going to be able to do that by just standing around watching him leave, so they set off at a brisk pace in order to catch up with him, and to make sure none of the monsters that were ahead of them would bring harm to the boy before they caught up.

* * *

The three had carried on their trek in silence after they had all regrouped again, a feat that someone would probably have found strange for any group that Spider-Man was in. Spidey could not really blame any of them though. After Lightning's little moment of revelation and her decision to put an end to Operation Nora, or at least what was the original intent behind it, anyone would have had a lot to take in, and that was without accounting for the fact that both she and Hope were still trying to process so much just on their own, never mind what they were trying to process about what the other believed or said, or even what he had said afterwards. Lightning was now even more lost on what her place in the world was after discovering how it seemed the fal'Cie treated humans, Hope had no clue how he should go about getting his revenge, assuming he did still want to get it, and meanwhile, Spidey himself was caught up in the middle of it all trying to keep the two from falling apart. He was just glad that there was nothing trying to kill them at the moment, because there was no way either of them were in the right mindset to put up even a half-way decent fight right now.

All the same, he could not help but wonder just what it was that the two wanted to do now. Lightning had made it clear that she had wanted to go to Eden in order to do something as some form of payback for both Serah and her becoming a l'Cie, but after learning what she had, it was hard to tell what sort of goal she wanted to work towards. Beyond keeping him and Hope safe, mostly Hope though, Spider-Man did not think Lightning really had much of a direction for herself at the moment, and that was likely going to cause a lot of problems later on. There was no denying that Lightning was a fierce combatant and possessed many skills even outside of a battlefield, but without any kind of direction or goal to move towards, she was not likely going to be able to do all that much. He debated whether or not telling her that he wanted to find a lab so that he could cook up a way to reverse the harmful effects of being a l'Cie, mostly so that they could return Serah to normal, but in the end, he figured that was probably not a good idea, given how she had reacted to Snow's constant insistence that Serah was still alive and could be brought back. The web-head did not want to get punched by the rosette ex-soldier.

Hope on the other hand seemed like he was more lost than ever. The fact that one of his protectors was now losing her nerve about the mission that they had set for themselves definitely was not helping either, but at the very least, Peter was glad to see that the kid was at least able to keep from completely losing his head with worry. No matter how you sliced it though, it still came as no surprise that Hope's first question upon speaking up again ended up being what it was when they stopped to take a short rest.

"So what do we do now," Hope questioned when they came to a stop on a deserted area of the walkway they were currently on, pulling both Lightning and Spider-Man's attention to him, but not getting much answer from either of the two. "We're l'Cie! Ticking time bombs. Enemies of Cocoon. If we can't follow the plan, do we just lay down and die?"

"Yeah, if you want to give up without even trying anything at all," Spider-Man tried to joke, only for his attempt to fall flat.

"This isn't funny, Spider-Man," Hope snapped, startling the web-head a little bit as he just raised his hands in apology.

"He knows that, and he is still right you know. No one means that we should give up," Lightning clarified for Hope.

"Then what battles do we fight, and against who? Tell me that," Hope demanded, desperate for Lightning or Spidey to give him some type of answer.

"I don't know yet," Lightning admitted.

"You don't know yet?!"

"That's right. I don't know yet, but I do know we can't lose hope," Lightning informed the kid.

"Uh, real quick? Do you mean 'hope' as in the belief, or 'Hope' as in the kid," Spider-Man questioned, though it was clear he was not entirely serious. When he only received a look from Lightning, he just nodded, "You mean as in the belief. Okay. Just making sure of that."

"There is no hope. Not for l'Cie," Hope protested sadly, taking a seat on the stairs that were just in front of them, clearly needing to brood a little right now.

"You realize how ironic that is coming from you, right," Spider-Man asked.

"It's just my name, not who I am," Hope continued to argue, though it was more with sadness than it was anything else.

Seeing Hope like this must have sparked something in Lightning, because stepped to the side for a moment to think, until she finally revealed, "I was just like you." That surprised both of the two boys, and their attention was now fully set on Lightning as she went on to explain what she meant by that. "My parents died. I had to be strong for Serah, so I thought I needed to forget my past, and I became Lightning. I thought that by changing my name, I could change who I was…I was just a kid." She then paused to look up into space for a moment, clearly indicating that it was a little hard for her to recall all of this even now, before continuing on. "Lightning…It flashes bright, then fades away. It can't protect. It only destroys."

That must have struck more of a chord with her than she realized, because seconds later, Lightning felt the need to sit down as well, and she was soon plopping down right next to Hope, while Peter leaned against the railing on the other side of her. Both Peter and Hope were now watching her with concerned eyes, wanting to do something to comfort Lightning, but still knowing that now was not quite the time. She needed to get this out of her system right now. "Serah tried to tell me, but I wouldn't listen…I threatened her…and I couldn't even realize that without someone else's help." That prompted Peter to look to the side, since he knew full well what she was talking about, having been there when it happened. "The only one who truly believed her was Snow."

"Don't say it," Hope suddenly snapped, startling both Light and Spidey with his outburst. "Don't say his name. It brings everything back," the kid then elaborated, his sorrow showing in every word. "I keep playing it in my head, what happened to her, and then I see his stupid face and…and he's _smiling_. How can he smile when she's dead? I know there's nothing I can do about it. I hate knowing that. No matter what happens, she's not coming back, but at the same time I also know it's not entirely his fault, and I do remember that he regrets what happened, but that just makes me even more confused and I can barely even think about what I need to do."

Lightning wanted to comfort the boy, but he was already up on his feet and looking everywhere except at her or Peter. "When I was fighting, there was no time to think about it," Hope carried on, his hand going to the l'Cie brand on his other arm. "It felt good just to give in, but now, Light, you start talking about hope…And I think about what you said Spidey, and it just…"

This time, Lightning did not give Hope a chance to pull away, because she was on her feet again and gently grasping his arm as a show of comfort to him. Hope seemed to appreciate this, but no smile managed to reach his face, because the pain of the memories he was thinking about and the confusion he was feeling was far too dominant. "I'm sorry. I'm messed up," Hope apologized.

"No. It's my fault," Lightning whispered.

"It's not either of your faults," Spider-Man disputed, gaining the attention onto him because of how serious he suddenly sounded. Even though he knew what the two were silently asking, he did not respond right away, but he did still eventually look to Hope and said, "Despite what you may think about that moment, Hope, Snow wasn't really smiling. Take it from someone who knows about the subject, there are many different kinds of masks, and while they're all worn for some different reason, they all serve the same purpose: to hide something."

"What do you mean," Hope asked, Lightning asking the same thing through the confused look on her face.

"That smile you saw Snow sporting when we met up with him after what had happened, it wasn't real; it was his attempt to hide how upset he was feeling. He was kicking himself several times over for what happened both to your mom and to everyone else on that bridge that had been killed, but he couldn't let anyone else know that. There were people who were looking to him for inspiration; to be a pillar of strength and hope in an otherwise hopeless situation where they barely had the smallest chances of getting out alive. So, he just decided to grin and bear with it, and put on a front to make it seem like he was his usual cheerful, yet somewhat cocky self. That kind of thing can only be bottled up for so long though, and when you and I met him in the Vestige and you had that talk with him, you saw what happened when it finally came loose. That kind of despair and self-hate doesn't just appear at random. It builds up steadily over time, until it just can't help but break free."

"How do you know so much about that," Lightning asked, feeling a bit disturbed about how certain Peter sounded throughout that speech.

Peter was quiet for a minute before he finally answered, "Because I know how to use a mirror, or as you had put it, Light, I was just like you guys once." Peter did not even need to look in their direction to know that Lightning and Hope were both giving him disbelieving looks that demanded an explanation, though mostly because he was going to give one regardless. "Despite what some might think, I'm not this pillar of eternal optimism, courage, and strength to never give up. I do have my limits. There have been days where I asked myself if being…well, me, was even worth it, especially on days when it affected my life outside the suit and powers. It was even harder in my earlier days, especially when you add in the fact that I was just a teenager at the time. People have often said that I try to take the entire world on my shoulders, and maybe they're right at times, but I can't always help myself, and when I do take on too much, it would eventually start to blow up in my face somehow. Despite those few bad days though, it never got too bad for me, because I still kept at it regardless. But that was before the list of my greatest failures started to grow a little longer."

"Your greatest failures," Hope asked, honestly surprised at what he was hearing. Ever since he had met him, Spidey had always seemed like he could handle anything that was thrown at him and shrug it off like it was nothing, but now, he was learning that was not always the case. The mere idea that Spider-Man could ever have failed at anything had just seemed so out-there to him, never mind the idea that it could have such a huge effect on him.

"You're talking about things like what happened to your uncle, aren't you," Lightning asked, though it was not really a question. Part of her knew that he was likely also referring to what had happened to his aunt, but given how fresh the pain from that loss likely still was, she was not going to call him out on it anymore than Peter was likely to mention it.

Spidey only nodded after a moment before continuing, "While losing my uncle may have been a driving force to my decision to become Spider-Man, I still think of it as one of my greatest failures, and sadly, it didn't stop there. I've lost other people who were very important to me as well, both friends, allies, even people who were more than that. Some of them had been killed because they were close to me, while others had made the choice to give their lives in order to help me, but no matter what the case, it didn't make the pain of losing them any easier, and I still blame myself for what had happened. I keep thinking that if I had been a little stronger, a little faster, or a little more anything, I could've done something to save them, even if there really wasn't anything I could've done. It only really got bad after my final face-off with Norman Osborn, when someone I cared about ended up dying in my arms, despite how hard I had tried to save them."

Lightning was stunned into silence as much as Hope, but she could tell that there was far more to that story than Peter was letting on. The fact that he had mentioned it twice now without going too far into detail was what really clued her in, but it was the overwhelming amount of pain that she could sense coming off of him as he had spoken about the event that let her read that like an open book. The fact that someone had died in his arms was certainly traumatic to be sure, be it friend or otherwise, but there was something more about the person Peter was referring to; something that seemed to cause him a great deal of pain just thinking about it. If it were not for the current atmosphere around them, she would have tried to pry some more information out of him about that, but now was not the time for that. Not when Spidey was trying to make what was obviously a very serious point.

"After that night, I would constantly go over and over in my head what I could've done differently, and what I could've or even should've done in order to have stopped Goblin. Not only that, but one thought kept going through my head nonstop for an endless amount of time: no matter what I do, no matter how hard I try, it's the ones I love who will always be the ones who pay. I honestly believed that was the case for lord only knows how long, and every time I put on my Spider-Man suit afterwards, it felt like that was becoming more and more true by the minute. Eventually, it became too much for me, and that was when I finally decided to just stop. That was when I finally said that I am Spider-Man no more."

"You mean you…you quit," Hope gasped right along with Lightning, despite the fact that she kept her words in her head.

"Yeah. I just wanted a life of my own, and I thought that being Spider-Man was keeping me from doing that, so I gave it up. I even went so far as to throw my costume out. I spent almost a month without ever once going to try and so much as put on my web-shooters after that, and I went about my day-to-day life like I probably would have if I had never gotten my powers in the first place. It didn't do much good though, because there were still times when I would hear a passing siren or notice someone getting mugged and feel compelled to try and do something, only to remind myself of my decision and walk away seconds later. I guess I just never realized that being Spider-Man had such a huge impact on my life before I decided to stop, or maybe I did and just chose to ignore it because I didn't want to acknowledge the fact."

"What changed," Lightning asked. "You clearly didn't stay away from the fight forever, so something must've brought you back."

"Well, the fact that Captain America showed up at my apartment one day wanting to know why Spider-Man hadn't been sighted in about a month helped. I don't know why, but I just felt like I had to tell him the whole story, or maybe, I just needed to tell someone for a long time and Cap was the one who ended up being my impromptu shrink. Either way, it actually did help a little, and Cap told me that even after that, he could still see that I had the heart of a hero who just wanted to do good no matter what was thrown at me. He told me that he honestly believed that Spider-Man gave people hope; that he showed people that there was a hero in all of us that keeps us honest, gives us strength, and makes us noble, even though sometimes we have to give up the thing we want the most. Add in the fact that he considered me to be an inspiration to him, Captain Freaking America considered me to be an inspiration for him, and well, how could I stay away from the action after that?"

"Guess Cap's a pretty great guy, huh," Hope asked. "Just like you."

"Cap's the best, but I don't know about me, Hope," Peter disputed. "Even after that little chat, I didn't really get out of my rut. Sure, I started being Spider-Man again, but after that, I spent more time in the suit than I did in my normal life. Instead of giving up Spider-Man, I had tried to give up being Peter. In a way, I guess you could say I was still running away from my problems, just on a different road than before."

"When did you finally stop," Lightning asked.

Peter just sighed and said, "I don't really know for sure. Maybe it just passed without my noticing, maybe something a friend said had finally gotten me to see what I had really been doing, or maybe I'm still running from my problems somehow. I mean, it would make sense if I was, considering what's happened to me in the last week." If Peter was hoping that his joke would lighten the otherwise somber mood, he was very disappointed, because it had no effect at all. "My point is this: we all have a moment where we think that there's no hope for us, and we all try to hide that pain in our own way, either by masking it somehow or just finding a target to take it all out on, deserving or not. In the end though, how we reclaim our hope and move past our troubles is up to us, but sometimes, we need a little help getting through."

Hope and Lightning had fallen silent again after that, though it was not as somber a silence as the previous one had been. Yes, it was still contemplative due to how much they had to think about, but at the same time, it did not carry the same weight of worry and despair as the previous one had. More than that, they also needed time to process what they had learned about their friend. Or rather, they needed to take a moment to really let it sink in just how human Spider-Man really was behind what they had seen and heard from him up until now.

* * *

After their last chat, the three had been nothing but silent and thoughtful, but at the same time, they also kept their wits about them for any sign of an enemy. Just because they had a great deal to think about, did not mean they were going to let their guard down. Even through that vigilance though, Hope could not help but keep thinking back to everything he had heard from Spider-Man and Lightning, until he finally came to a decision on what they should do now. Until they finally figured out what battles they should fight, Hope figured that they should finally go to his home so that he could tell his father what had happened to his mother. Hearing that Hope now wanted to meet his dad without any prompting or encouragement from them honestly surprised Lightning and Spider-Man, but all the same, it did not stop them from being proud of him, as seen through their smiles, or at least through Lightning's smile and Spidey's nod, seeing as the latter's smile was hidden behind his mask. With a new destination now well in hand, they quickly rushed to get out of the underground area of Palumpolum in record time, or at least before PSICOM finally caught up to them, with Lightning encouraging Hope to talk to his father about more than just his mother's fate. Hope was a bit hesitant about that idea, thinking that his father would never believe anything else he would say that did not pertain to his mom, but Lightning and Spidey both insisted that he would if Hope gave him the chance. It was that encouragement that allowed Hope to realize in full just how much Snow had believed Serah, and that they were encouraging him to give his father the chance that Serah had not been able to give her sister, so how could he really argue with them.

All sentimental thought and concerns quickly evaporated after they had reached the elevator that would take them up into the center of Palumpolum, because shortly after they had gotten at least halfway up, Spider-Man suddenly tensed up and started telling the two to get ready for a fight. Since they were well aware of why Spidey would be telling them such things like he knew it was coming, Hope and Lightning were both quick to start tensing up so that they would be ready to strike or run right from the moment they got off the elevator if they had to, with the latter drawing her gunblade and keeping it ready to fire on anything that dared to approach them in a threatening manner. Spider-Man also took the time to check how much web fluid he had in his web-shooters one last time, just to be sure that he would have enough for whatever kind of fight they would get into, and once he had confirmed that he did, he braced himself for whatever they were about to face.

When the elevator finally came to a stop, they found themselves above ground once again, but this time in what Hope had identified as the Agora, and seeing it completely void of any life did not make anyone feel at ease. Lightning and Spider-Man both slowly stepped off the elevator once they were able to while Hope glanced around nervously from behind them, only to run after the two when he realized he was falling behind. It was not until after they had stepped out of the shadows that they realized that an announcement was being made over the speakers of the nearby, large news broadcaster that they really began to worry. _"In a recently convened emergency conference, the Sanctum announced that the fugitive l'Cie have been located. The military plans to apprehend the l'Cie and carry out a public execution. In addition to this, the Sanctum also announced that there are suspicions that the masked vigilante-turned threat, Spider-Man may be with the l'Cie as well. When asked what actions they would take in regard to this individual, the Sanctum merely said that their response would depend entirely on what actions that Spider-Man would take, though they do hope that he will choose to surrender peacefully and allow himself to be taken into custody."_

"Well, it's good to have dreams," Spidey quipped, now suddenly a little eager to prove that he would be doing no such thing, but the other two were still too concerned and worried to really care about his joke at the moment, especially when they heard that the images on the large screen before them was displaying live feed from Palumpolum.

The second that she saw their images appear on the screen, Lightning quickly raised her gunblade to fire, and then began glancing around every which-way as she asked, "Where are they going to come from, Spidey?"

"The left," Spider-Man easily replied, only to correct himself a second later. "No, wait…the right…No, above us…"

"Which one is it," Hope finally snapped in worry.

"You'd be better off asking which one it's not," Spider-Man finally revealed after a few more seconds. It was barely more than half a moment after he had said that when they saw what they could only assume was a majority of the Sanctum forces deployed to Palumpolum surrounding them from all sides, some coming in on foot while others dropped or flew down from the skies, and at the head of them all, no doubt acting as the general's command ship, was a moderately sized transport, atop which was a man with silver hair, styled in thick, collar length bangs and a short ponytail, and sporting a black uniform that Lightning identified as that of a PSICOM lieutenant colonel, and a military saber on his belt.

"These are l'Cie. Show no mercy. They aren't people; they're targets," the man ordered his troops, drawing glares from both Lightning and Spider-Man.

"Director Rosch, Spider-Man is here as well. How should we proceed," they overheard one of the troops say into his radio.

Rosch looked down, his steely gaze locking onto the web-head and being returned in equal ferocity, proven by how the eyes on Spider-Man's mask narrowed, and then tapped the comm. device in his ear so that he was broadcasting on an open channel and said, "Spider-Man, you have but one chance. Surrender now and assist in eliminating the threat to Cocoon, or we will show you as little mercy as the l'Cie."

"Help you murder innocent people in the name of a belief that was spurned on by hate and fear of something you don't know or understand, including my friends? Thanks, but even if I was the type to willingly kill my enemies, I'm gonna have to pass, you wannabe samurai. I fight for what's truly right, and that includes keeping others safe and alive," Spidey instantly retorted.

"Have it your way then," Rosch huffed before shutting off the open channel so that he could address his troops again. "Men, eliminate Spider-Man as well."

The glare he drew from Lightning after giving that order was hot enough to have burned the entirety of Cocoon over a thousand times at least, even if it was laced with a bit of disappointment for some odd reason, but she knew that she would not be able to do anything about it right now under these circumstances. With so many soldiers focusing on them, there was no way she was going to be able to keep Hope safe, even with Spider-Man's help. She was not even sure if she would even be able to keep herself alive right now, or if Spider-Man's abilities would allow him to stay alive either, and when she felt Hope back up into her, she found that there was only one decision that she could make.

"Start running. I'll keep 'em busy," Lightning whispered to the two boys.

"But…" Hope started to protest, hardly believing what she had just said.

"You survive. The others will need you both," Lightning ordered the two.

"How about you take Hope and run while I keep them busy instead? After all, I am something of an old pro when it comes to being the ultimate distraction," Spider-Man offered, though it was clear that he was not just making a suggestion.

All the same, Lightning still tried to argue. "No! Even you can't defeat all of these soldiers by yourself!"

"Who said anything about defeating them? I'm just aiming to take as many down as possible until I'm sure you've left so that I can swing out of here later," Spidey smirked in reply.

Hope was not sure he wanted to hear this. No matter who won this argument, in the end, he was likely going to have to watch as a friend made themselves a target for all of these people who wanted nothing more than to kill all three of them. He did not want that at all. Lightning and Spider-Man had already done so much for him, and he felt as though he owed them for all of that and more. He wanted to do something that could help make sure they survived no matter which of them stayed behind, but for the life of him he could not figure out what he could do. Hope was reduced to praying for some miracle to come and save them when suddenly, his wish was granted by an explosion from a balcony somewhere up above them.

That same explosion had also drawn the attention of nearly everyone else, including Spidey and Lightning, until they saw a soldier suddenly fall from the smoke like he had been pushed off, shortly followed after by what looked like a glowing, light blue crystal. Seconds later, they faintly heard a gunshot, and the crystal suddenly exploded releasing a massive explosion of ice magic into the area, forming several ice tracks that sent soldiers flying left and right around the trio, and causing a pair of large, feminine figures to suddenly materialize into the air above it.

"Are those more monsters," Spider-Man shouted over the gunfire that had started up soon after.

"No…I think they're Eidolons," Hope gasped. His guess was proven true when a figure suddenly leaped over the rail of the balcony, while the two figures reconfigured into a very impressive looking motorcycle, and when the person in question had reached them, he ended up dropping into the driver's seat, while another person dropped down behind him, taking up position as a passenger while shooting at anyone who the driver had raced past. When the motorcycle riders finally rode by close to them, Hope was able to get a good look at the two, and excitedly cheered, "It's Snow!"

"Celebrate later; run and fight now," Spider-Man shouted as Lightning grabbed Hope's arm and pulled him along as she started shooting at any soldiers who were either distracted by or not entirely focused on the large blonde and his new friends, while Spidey jumped high into the air to throw out webs at everyone else.

Pure chaos followed afterwards, as Snow and his new friend raced across the ice tracks that had formed, some of which were still coming into being, shooting at anything that was affiliated with Rosch's forces, while Lightning and Spider-Man easily flowed through it all like a river through a stone. Hope on the other hand took cover wherever he could for the most part, feeling that he was still not quite ready for a fight of this scale, but he did provide support whenever he spotted a chance by throwing out fire spells, along with a few other ones as well when he deemed it necessary. For the most part though, he mostly went with healing magic so that Lightning and Spider-Man could stay in the fight longer. He would have cast a few for Snow too, but with how fast the big guy was moving around the area, he was not sure he would be able to cast the spell properly, so he just left Snow to his own devices.

From where they were, Spidey and Light could also see that Rosch was trying to take off, even after Snow and his partner started shooting at him, only to succeed in destroying the camera that was spinning about near him, and the web-head was not planning on letting this man get away so easily. He was just about to fire off a web-line that would allow him to slingshot up to where Rosch was when he was forced to dodge a stray rain of bullets that came from the person who was riding with Snow, earning said person an indignant look along with him shouting, "Hey! Same side! Shoot the other guys!"

He did not know if the person in question heard him or not, but he did know that Lightning's fighting style became a little more aggressive after she had noticed him almost get shot by whoever it was that was riding with Snow at the moment. Of course, she was mostly taking it out on the poor fools that were currently trying to kill them, but that did not stop Peter from wondering where this sudden burst of angry fighting had come from. Sure, she was normally in a bad mood whenever Snow was around, but this was not that. It was like someone had just suddenly done something that she considered unforgivable and she was now fighting to right that wrong in any way that she could, even going so far as to throw out a few spells of her own to deal with the soldiers. Whatever the case was, Spidey just shook it off, because now was not the time to be wondering about someone's motivation, so he just went right back to webbing up any soldiers that tried to attack him and his friends, or knocking those same soldiers out before they could even attempt to raise their weapons towards him.

As a result, Spider-Man and Lightning were soon fighting back-to-back, once again executing a fighting style that was so fluid and graceful that it almost seemed like a dance. When Lightning would swing her sword at one enemy, Spider-Man would simultaneously duck under it to pull an enemy towards him via web-line. Upon drawing that foe in, Spider-Man then landed a hard spin kick that was supplemented by Lightning taking out the same foe with a blast from her gunblade's rifle mode just seconds before switching it back into sword mode in order to deflect a strike from a third soldier. While she held the locked blade and it's wielder in place, Spider-Man was able to spin overhead and snag the soldier from behind so that he was able to yank that same enemy away from Lightning once he had landed, webbing him up in a cocoon of webs after he had collided with another Sanctum soldier and dropped to the ground. He then fired off a pair of Impact Webbing pellets before unleashing a pair of spin kicks, followed up by an equally hard pair of punches that would have likely caused serious injury to the men who had been on the receiving ends of his blows if they had not been wearing armor. While he did that, Lightning swiftly took down the soldiers that had been webbed up with a single swing of her gunblade, and then jumped in to knock out any remaining forces that Peter had missed.

The two of them kept this deadly dance of webs, punches, kicks, and blades up for another few minutes, until finally, the area seemed to have been cleared, at least of any soldiers who had been fortunate enough to get away before Snow's surprise entrance had taken out their colleagues earlier, and who had been stupid enough to stick around in an attempt to retake the battle in their favor, and Spider-Man was once again ready to go after Rosch, seeing that his transport still appeared to be nearby. Once again though, he found his attempts at a chase cut short by a certain blonde giant of a man and his mystery partner, as the two came rocketing through the air of jumping off the ice tracks. Of course, he was not the one who was nearly hit by the blonde's new motorcycle. He was just the one who had to push said person out of the way before her head had gotten hit. No doubt Lightning was going to be more than a little annoyed with Snow now after that had happened.

If Snow registered any of that, he did a superb job of not showing, because the second his fancy bike's hit the ground and he had spun it around to a screeching halt, which had the added sound effect of skidding across ice, he looked to the three and was immediately beaming widely at them all while his passenger dismounted from the bike with a smaller, yet still smug-looking smile of her own. "Lightning! Spidey," Snow waved as he climbed off the bike as well.

Lightning just gave Snow a hard, annoyed glare in response, quickly wiping the smile from Snow's face so that it could be replaced by a much more serious look that would have seemed out of place on the blonde had it not been for what had occurred when he and Lightning had last met. Spider-Man on the other hand was a bit more open with his own greeting, as he quickly walked over to Snow, making the blonde think that he was going for a high five or something. He was a naturally surprised when the web-head instead socked him in the jaw. "Hey! What was that for," Snow asked.

"You almost hit me and Light just now, and your new friend there almost shot me," Spidey instantly replied, indignantly.

"You're welcome," was the only thing that the woman in question had to say in response.

"To be fair, I did let it slip to Fang that you could dodge bullets, so…" Snow revealed.

That was as far as he got in his explanation though, as he suddenly found himself having to catch Hope when the boy nearly face-planted after he was pushed towards him by Lightning. "Take care of him," Lightning ordered Snow.

"Oh no! You are not doing this again, you hear me? We told Hope we'd look out for him…" Spidey started to say.

"And right now the best way to do that is for him to go with Snow," Lightning interrupted. "Now that they've seen the three of us together, they'll be expecting to find us as such. They won't expect us to split up into different groups."

Spider-Man had to admit that Lightning made a good point, but he could also see what else she was doing by having Hope go with Snow. She was pushing Hope forward in making his decision on how to go about his revenge, at least in regards to Snow. Glancing over to Hope told Peter that Hope had realized that as well, but Snow on the other hand seemed clueless on the matter. Not that Peter could blame him, considering that Snow had not been there for Hope's moments of opening up, but then again, it looked like Snow had something important that he needed to tell them. "Lightning, listen to me," Snow begged after helping Hope regain his balance.

"Get moving," Lightning interrupted before he could get too far in, hoping that Snow would take the hint and go. He did not.

"No, no, you don't understand! Serah's all right! She'll-MMPH!" This time, Snow was cut off when a glob of webbing suddenly slapped his mouth shut.

"Dah-di-di-dih! Please, don't start that again just two minutes after we've met up," Spidey begged. Snow did not seem to listen, as he just looked at Spidey and tried to say something that was completely muffled by the webs on his mouth. "Hey, be glad that it's just your mouth that's webbed up and not your nose too, otherwise you'd probably suffocate." The blonde then pointed to the webs on his mouth, making it clear what he was asking this time, and prompting Spidey to say, "Don't worry, that'll dissolve in like one or two hours, give or take. It kinda varies depending on the area and a few other factors."

This time, it was easy to tell what Snow was saying, even with the webbing muffling his mouth. "One or two…! No, no, no, no! Come fix this!"

"One or two hours. You kinda deserve that for earlier," Spidey repeated. Snow then started trying to say something else, only for Spider-Man to continue teasing him, at least until Snow finally spun his head in Lightning's direction, allowing the web-head to see her charging off into the distance. "Are you kidding me?! She went and ran off without me anyway?! Unbelievable! Should've shot some webs at her feet."

"And then there were four," Fang commented under her breath with a shrug, taking off after Lightning with a chuckle afterwards.

Spider-Man would've gone after the two women right away had he not noticed a number of fresh troops coming into the area, while some of the ones from earlier were getting back up. Snow must have noticed this as well, since he instantly pulled Hope onto the back of the motorcycle that was also his Eidolon and gunned the engine, taking off once he had. While Snow easily plowed through ever soldier and mech that was opposing them, Spider-Man used the distraction to fire a Spider-Tracer from his web-shooter onto Fang, making sure he would be able to find her, and possibly Lightning later on, and then back flipped up onto the side of an ice wall that had been created earlier when Snow had made his grand entrance. That landed him in the perfect position to see when Hope lost his grip on Snow as the blonde raced around the battlefield, and then swoop down on a web-line so that he could pull the kid to safety, letting Snow really cut loose in the fight.

After landing somewhere safe, Hope and Spider-Man were treated to the sight of Snow fighting side-by-side with his Eidolon, which seemed to consist of various attacks that were enhanced by ice magic, along with a finishing move that unleashed a massive storm of ice that sent several soldiers flying as a result. It did leave him with one large mech to deal with afterwards, but the big guy was able to tear it apart on his own with a few hard punches and some powerful ice magic, proving that Snow had been getting stronger since the two had last seen him. In no time at all, Snow had vanquished ever last enemy that had been in the area, and Spidey and Hope were now able to swing down and talk to him without any interference. Of course, talking with Snow was going to be made much easier after Spidey finally freed him of the webs that were covering his mouth.

"Ah, that's better," Snow breathed in relief once the webs were off. "But why couldn't you do that before?"

"I just wanted to mess with you a little," Spider-Man shrugged in good humor. "Well actually, I was originally planning on just letting the webbing dissolve after a couple hours, but you do kinda have a few answers that we need right now."

"Like where you've been all this time," Hope asked, his voice even but not as antagonistic as even he was expecting it to be.

Snow sighed in response, knowing that was going to be coming, and placed his hands on his hips as he replied, "I got taken in." That was probably not the best starting point, seeing as it drew distressed looks from the other two, so he quickly reassured them, "Not by enemies. It was the Cavalry, not PSICOM."

"And now you've lost me. What the heck is the Cavalry," Spider-Man asked.

"It's a division of the Guardian Corps. They usual patrol the skies from a sweet airship, and they tend to deal with the monsters that wander the uninhabited areas of Cocoon, along with any other disturbances. Leader's name is Raines. He said he'd lend us l'Cie a hand, and he seems to be a bit of a fan of yours, Spidey. So now, your hero is back!"

"I thought you were Serah's hero," Spider-Man teased, knowingly.

"More importantly, why would the army help us? That doesn't make sense," Hope pointed out, silencing any joking around before it could fully start.

"Military's got all kinds. Not all of 'em like the Sanctum," Snow explained as plainly as he could.

"See, now that's the first thing I've learned since coming here that I can actually fully understand," Spider-Man admitted. "What I'm hearing is that the Cavalry just uses their official job as a cover to hide the fact that they want to take down the Sanctum for the crimes that they've tried to cover up, right?"

"Pretty much," Snow shrugged. "And guess that they're counting on us to handle the bad guys."

"Well, they're going to the right guys for the job," Hope admitted. "Though more in the case of Spider-Man and Lightning."

"Hey, what about me," Snow asked. His answer was a look from Hope that made him recoil a little, and caused him to drop his cocky attitude at the remembrance of what was currently between him and the kid. "Right. Sorry."

"Save it for later, Hero. We've got to get moving. You two do what you can to shake off the remaining PSICOM forces. I'll go after Lightning and Tang," Spider-Man ordered.

"Fang," Snow corrected.

"Whatever." He then turned to Hope, handed him a Spider-Tracer, and said, "Hope, you try to keep yourself and Snow alive until we regroup, and we will. That tracking device I just gave you will help make sure of that."

Hope nodded in response, knowing that Spidey was not just referring to keeping Snow safe from any Sanctum forces in the area when he said that, and the two watched as the web-head launched himself into the air and away from them. Neither of them would have guessed that the web-head was not going directly to Lightning and Fang's location though.

* * *

Rosch was not having a good day at the moment. Not only did the Pulse l'Cie escape, but now there were more in the area, and he was not about to let them poison Cocoon with their existence for long. Not only that, but Spider-Man made a mockery of his troops, soldiers who were supposed to be the best of the Sanctum's military, along with the Pulse taints on a live broadcast that had now likely been seen by all of Cocoon by now. Needless to say, he was well aware of what his superiors would think after they saw this, but that did not matter to him. What mattered was killing the l'Cie by any means necessary, just as the people of Cocoon desired. Sure, he was now ordering his troops to open fire the minute they saw Spider-Man or the l'Cie, and to ignore all fire zone restrictions, which would likely lead to severe collateral damage and civilian casualties, but then again, it was those same people who were crying out for his forces to protect them from the terrors of Pulse and its l'Cie, so he was not about to look weak to any of them. More to the point, he was not about to let this so-called superhero interfere with that, and that was why he was now more than willing to use all available resources to deal with Spider-Man the next time he saw him.

That next time came much sooner than he was expecting, as the web-swinger suddenly sprang up onto his transport before him, knocking one of his guards off as he landed. "Hey guys! The Innocent People Slaughter transport left at 10:30 this morning. Ya missed it," Spidey announced as he snagged another soldier with his web and pulled him in for a quick kick to knock him out.

"Then perhaps I should consider myself lucky that I'm on a transport for the ending of irritating insects," Rosch commented, drawing his saber when he did.

"Seriously? I swear, it's like some sort of cosmic conspiracy of stupidity if people who aren't even from my neck of the woods can't get it straight that spiders are arachnids," Spider-Man groaned while preparing to engage Rosch. He did not wait for the PSICOM director to make the first move, but instead charge him in an attempt to take him out as swiftly as possible. Rosch surprised him though by dodging the web-head's blows quite easily, and if it were not for his reflexes and Spider-Sense, Peter was sure that when Rosch tried to counterattack with his barrage of hand-to-hand attacks, he would have been easily taken down.

Rosch continued to press the advantage he gained from Spidey's surprise, as he swung his saber at the web-head in an attempt to end him, but thankfully, Spider-Man was able to either dodge or deflect the blade before it could scratch him, giving him a few opportunities to land glancing blows here and there against Rosch. Spider-Man then tried to slow down his opponent with a few blasts of webbing, but Rosch must have seen this tactic coming because the minute that Spidey's fingers had folded into position to fire his web-shooter, Rosch batted the offending arm away from him, making Peter fire his web in a completely different direction, and leaving him open for Rosch to kick him back. Thankfully, Spider-Man did not let that throw him off for long thanks to an easy back flip that landed him in a crouch, and once he was upright, he fired both of his web-shooters at Rosch. The PSICOM director easily sliced through one set of webs that were fired at him, but the second set ended up catching his leg, thus trapping him where he stood, much to his irritation. That did not stop him though, as he quickly proved by parrying every blow that Spider-Man tried to throw afterwards, while simultaneously attempting to cut himself free.

Even immobilized, Spidey had to admit that Rosch was a difficult opponent, but aside from that, there was something vaguely familiar about his fighting style. It was almost as though he had seen someone else fighting in the same way before. Maybe not in the exact same way, but still very similar to it to him. That was when it struck him. Lightning would sometimes use similar tactics in the battles that they had been fighting up until now, and he remembered her using a few moves that were similar to Rosch's during their sparring match the other day. The main differences between then and now was that he actually had the help of his Spider-Sense this time, and the fact that Rosch was fighting him in a much more aggressive manner than Lightning had been. This, coupled with the disappointment he had seen in Lightning's eyes earlier when Rosch had first appeared, convinced Peter to make a mental note to ask the rosette about this later, but for now, he had to deal with Rosch. There was no way he was letting the man get away from this unscathed if he could help it.

Said goal turned out to be easier said than done when Rosch suddenly reached into his jacket with his free hand, and pulled out a device that he immediately slipped onto his hand before unleashing it on Spidey in a single punch. When Spidey was struck, he felt as though several volts of electricity were just sent through his body, while he was sent flying all the way to the other side of the ship. He would have fallen off the vessel had he not managed to secure a hold on the side at the last second, and as such, he was not able to recover before Rosch finally freed himself from the webs holding him in place while the lieutenant colonel studied the device that was now on his arm.

"I must admit, when the newest addition to our tech division first gave devices such as this to me and my troops, I was rather skeptical at how effective they would be, but now…I can't help but wonder why I did not use this sooner," Rosch confessed as he approached Spidey, who had just climbed back up onto the transport.

Spider-Man did not stay there long though, as Rosch then swung the gauntlet forward releasing a powerful shockwave of energy, forcing the web-head to leap into the air in order to dodge it. He attempted to get in close using his webs, but Rosch must have known he would do that, because he reared his gauntleted arm back and hit Spidey with another powerfully enhanced blow that sent Spider-Man flying once more. This time, the web-head did not get the chance to remain in the fight, because he ended being so dazed by the blow that he was unable to recover fast enough to keep himself from falling too far from Rosch's ship, and so, he settled for just using a web-parachute to slowly descend down to a nearby rooftop. Rosch then watched as Spider-Man discarded the parachute and leapt down into an alleyway before tapping his radio and ordering, "Attention all troops: Spider-Man is now somewhere in the city as well on his own. Any troops who are armed with our newest armaments are to engage him at once with said weapons."

At that very same moment, Spider-Man was jumping from wall to wall in an attempt to put some distance between him and Rosch. He knew that there was no chance of getting back up there again without being shot at by every Sanctum soldier in the area, and even he was not able to dodge that many bullets at once, so for now, he needed to make a tactical retreat. Besides that, Rosch's new toy had given him a few things to think about. There was something about that gauntlet that was far too familiar to him. Not in the same way that Rosch's fighting style was similar to Lightning's in a small, subtle way, but like he had seen something just like it somewhere before. He ended up putting that train of thought on hold for a minute, as a number of PSICOM soldiers suddenly came swooping down on him, many of them using some sort of jetpacks, or at least, that's what he would call them, to carry down some of their comrades, but while some of them seemed to use what looked like the standard issue variety of said flight devices, others utilized one that was a bit more elaborate. The ones that did not look standard issue had large wings on them that included talons that appeared to be razor sharp, but from what he could see, that was the only notable difference, since it still used the same type of propulsion system as the others, only with said propulsion being housed in the backpack that connected the wings together and to the soldier's suit while being condensed down so that it was not quite as noticeable.

Once again, Spidey was hit with a sense of familiarity, only this time, he was able to place where he had seen this type of tech before easily. It was almost exactly like the flight suit that his old enemy, Adrian Toomes alias the Vulture, had utilized since beginning his life of crime. How PSICOM could have something like that, Spider-Man was not sure, but right now, one thing he wanted to do more than anything else was avoid seeing how much like Vulture's flight suit these things were, especially if the talons on those wings were anywhere near as sharp as Toomes's, so he quickly booked it out of there as fast as he could. It ended up being a little more difficult than he would have liked, given that the troops who had been carried down were using gauntlets like the one that Rosch had, and seeing these troops use them in pairs was what helped Peter place where he had seen such devices before. It was all-too-similar to the gauntlets that the Shocker had used. Seeing two sets of tech that were similar to that of his old enemies was two too many for Spider-Man's comfort, and he figured that he needed to get some answers about it, mostly just to make sure that it was an odd coincidence or something along similar lines. With that goal set, Spidey quickly managed to lure one of the gauntlet wielders away from his comrades once he was well out of the flying soldiers' view, and webbed him to the wall before pulling the gauntlets off of him so he could analyze them.

Taking the gauntlets apart and then looking them over piece-by-piece, wire-by-wire, Spidey was met with an astonishing discovery, one that he felt deemed it necessary for him to snag one of the Vulture-wannabes so that he could analyze their fancy jetpacks as well. Upon doing so, he discovered the exact same thing that he had in regards to the gauntlets. "These things aren't just similar in terms of capabilities to Vulture and Shocker's tech; they're practically exact replicas of them, only with some obvious upgrades using some of the resources and tech that Cocoon has," Spider-Man announced aloud, though mostly to himself. "More than that, even with the added upgrades, the design of it is way too familiar. It's almost like they were made by…No, it couldn't be, could it? Rosch did mention that PSICOM had a new member in their science division, and he is the only other person besides me who would know anything about these devices, but still…" He fell silent for a few moments after, thinking over the possibilities and likely scenarios that were now running through his mind, but every time, he kept coming back to the same final conclusion, and the only one that made sense in his eyes. Knowing that though, he found that his next move was also just as obvious. "I've gotta find that Fang woman. With any luck, Lightning will be with her too, and it'll be that much easier to get answers from her."

With that, Spider-Man pocketed the components of the Shocker gauntlets in his belt and swung off, not bothering with the PSICOM-styled Vulture wings since he did not think they would be that much of a help to him anytime soon. As he was going, he also had to smirk a little, because he felt that now would be the perfect time to try out something that a friend had convinced him to install into his suit for just such an occasion.

* * *

Fang and Lightning had very little trouble losing their pursuers, if you can believe it. I mean really, one would think that it would have been difficult to lose two incredibly lovely young women who were also just as incredibly deadly, not that either of them were bragging or anything, but they pulled it off. Now all Fang had to worry about was making sure that Lightning kept a cool head despite the current situation, and why Snow had yet to check in like he was supposed to have by now. After waiting another few minutes for the big guy to call with no such response, Fang was just about to call him herself when suddenly, she found one of her arms stuck to the wall by a surprise web. It did not take any longer for either her or Lightning to figure out where the web had come from than it did for said individual to drop down in front of them, but they were much more confused about how his voice suddenly sounded so much deeper than it did before.

"Hey, surprised to see me again so soon," Spider-Man asked in a very deep, growling voice as he approached Fang, only acknowledging Lightning's presence with a quick nod. "You may have information that I need, and you're going to give it to me now."

Fang just stared at the web-head for a minute in silence, until she finally asked, "What's wrong with your voice?"

"What do you mean what's wrong with my voice," Spidey inquired, still using the deep voice.

"You do remember that I was right there with you when you were talking with Snow and Sunshine over here, right? Besides, I know what a girl sounds like," Fang pointed out.

"I'm not a girl! I'm a guy," Spider-Man snapped, indignantly, and the fact that he was still using the deeper voice when he said that almost made Lightning smile a bit.

"Look, I don't care what you are. Boy, girl…"

"I'm not a girl! I'm a man! Seriously, it's in the name: Spider- _Man_!" Peter then shook his head, knowing that they were off-track, and he quickly said, "Okay, I've just dealt with soldiers who were using tech that is way too familiar to me, and from what I heard, a new guy in their science division designed it for them. Since I'm assuming you work with the Cavalry, I'm also guessing that means you might know something about that. Give me a name, or else."

That last bit got more of a reaction out of Fang, because a second later, she had cut herself free of the webs using her spear, and then spun it around before slamming the end of it on the ground, startling Spider-Man a little when she did, and breaking him from the character he was trying to show. "You don't really do that much intimidating when it comes to getting answers, do you," Fang asked, rhetorically.

Spider-Man tried to hold the spear-woman's gaze, but in the end, he just sighed, tapped the spider-emblem on his chest and said, "Deactivate Interrogation Mode." That earned him an amused snort from Fang while the corners of Lightning's mouth moved upwards a little more, but he paid it little mind as he returned to addressing Fang, this time speaking in his normal voice. "Look, the weapons being used by those soldiers I just fought earlier, I know them because I've fought guys who used them just about every day back where I come from. Rosch said that PSICOM's newest addition to their science division was the one who made it all, so if you know anything about him…"

"Do you really think I'd know something just because I work with the Cavalry," Fang asked.

"Well…maybe," Spider-Man hesitantly admitted. "I mean, you're pretty much the only person I can think of who would know something about it."

"Why not ask Snow?" That earned Fang a small look from both Spidey and Lightning, to which she nodded in concession, "Okay, fair enough. Plus, it's not like Snow's been working with us for all that long, anyway."

"Do you know something or not," Lightning cut in. Her curiosity had been peaked the moment that Spider-Man had said that he encountered people using weapons that were familiar to him, but at first she thought that it was not anything too significant. He had admitted that they had guns back in his old universe, but with the way he was grilling Fang about this and asking for a specific name, she had a feeling that they were much more important than that.

"Do I look like the type to specialize in intelligence gathering," Fang asked the two. She knew what their answers would be when she was met with nothing but silence, aside from Spider-Man's moaning in misery as he leaned back against the wall, looking a lot more tired than he actually was at that moment. She heard him mutter something under his breath about a Cocoon-style Sinister Six or some other gibberish before she finally locked her gaze on him again and said, "You know, Snow told me that you helped out a very important friend of mine earlier on, despite the trouble that said person may have given you. Don't know a lot of folks who would go out of their way for a random stranger like that."

Spider-Man knew that Fang was basically saying that she felt like she at least owed him something just from that simple sentence, and he was not about to let this slip away. "It's more than just a familiarity in terms of function when it comes to those weapons I saw. The way they were designed made it seem like someone had replicated the original ones and then upgraded them with tech from here. Not only that, but the design style was way too familiar to me to be just a coincidence. If you know anything about this guy in their science division, you need to tell me now, because it may help save a lot of people."

Fang considered these words for a moment before she finally said, "The Cavalry doesn't really get all that much intel from PSICOM aside from what we either grab or are given from them, and when it comes to the guy you're talking about, all I know is that he keeps to himself a lot. I've heard some folks tended to call him Doc or something."

"Like 'Doctor,'" Spider-Man posed.

"Maybe. Like I said, the fella keeps to himself. Almost no one has ever seen him in person outside of PSICOM's higher-ups like Rosch," Fang shrugged. She then paused to think for a moment before she added, "Though I did hear one other rumor. Apparently, the guy is modifying one of the monsters that PSICOM uses in some of their operations for his own purposes with some of the tech he's created, and he intends to make it so that he can assume full, personal control over it at a moment's notice. Don't know what the thing is aside from how everyone says that they would know the beast when they saw it as being his."

"Well, that helps narrow things down a little," Spider-Man remarked. He may have come across as sounding a bit sarcastic, but he just chalked that up to the fact that he was just so tired after the day he had been having so far.

Fang then took that chance to make the call to Snow, giving Lightning a chance to step up beside Spider-Man so that she could ask him a few questions of her own. "Do you have some idea about who the person designing these weapons is?"

"Oh I've got an idea all right. It's someone from my world," Spider-Man revealed.

"How's that possible? I thought you came here by yourself, and aside from Madame Web, I was under the impression that no one else from your universe could get here," Lightning questioned.

"I may have landed here alone, but that doesn't mean I really did come alone. There's only one person I can think of who could be behind this, and while he did get pulled into that vortex with me, I thought for sure that he might have landed himself into something else," Spidey revealed.

Lightning was about to question Spider-Man further, when Fang finally got an answer from Snow, and immediately shouted, "You damn well know what's up! Why haven't you called in?" There was a short pause in which the two could only assume was meant for her to hear Snow's answer, after which, Fang just sighed and said, "Right…What's your status?" Another pause, followed by Fang saying, "I'm great, you're great, everybody's great. Oh, and your friend in red and blue pajamas is here with us too."

"Hey! Lay off my suit! This thing is made with state-of-the-art tech, thank you very much," Spider-Man snapped.

Fang did not seem to pay him any mind as she handed her communicator to Lightning. "Reunion time. Figure out a rendezvous point," Fang told the ex-soldier. Seeing the concerned expression on Lightning's face immediately clued Fang into what she was likely worried about, and she reassured her, "Don't sweat it. That line's hyper-encrypted."

Lightning just nodded in response before turning to speak into the device, only to scowl a minute later when Snow beat her to it on the greeting, leading her to give a reply she was starting to get a little tired of giving the blonde. "I'm not your sister."

"Yet," Spider-Man coughed. When Lightning turned to glare at him, he quickly glanced the other way and just whistled innocently, leaving her to the conversation, while Fang just assumed a spot against the wall that Spider-Man had now perched himself on.

The two just remained silent as they listened to Light converse with Snow, until Fang finally asked, "Is that really comfortable?"

"Well, yeah. For me at least," Spidey shrugged, knowing that she was referring to his current position on the wall. He had gotten that question a lot of times in the past, so it was not hard to figure out what she was referring to.

Fang just nodded with a hum and fell silent again before she smirked at him and asked, "So you need a high-tech suit to help you with interrogations?"

"No! It was just something a friend said I should put in when I was drawing up design specs for it," Spider-Man snapped indignantly. When Fang just shot him a disbelieving look, Spider-Man could only sigh as he muttered, "Stupid Interrogation Mode. Jess, I swear to god, if I ever see you again, I'm gonna kick your shapely butt for ever suggesting that."

Their conversation was interrupted when Lightning started shouting Hope's name into the communicator, indicating that the boy had taken over on Snow's end of the conversation for a moment, along with the fact that something was wrong. Moving closer so that he could hear a little better, Spidey could hear a bit of static and a faint whine was starting to muffle out whatever was being said on the other end, and he knew that it could only mean one thing. He figured that Lightning knew it as well, but it did not stop her from trying to get through to the kid, at least until Fang stepped over to her again. "Yelling doesn't fix it. It's called interference," Fang informed the rosette, speaking as though she were talking to a child, and earning a small eye-roll from Lightning in response.

"Yes, thank you for informing us of something we are well-aware of. You can't really blame her for at least trying to hope that something would be able to get through said interference," Spider-Man retorted on Light's behalf, drawing a small, unnoticeable smile from her as he did.

"Either way, you can all chitchat when we get there," Fang informed the two as she took back the communicator from Lightning. "I've got point, you two fall in behind."

"Yeah-no. _I've_ got point, and you've got the middle," Spider-Man argued, leaping off the wall and directly in front of Fang. "Unless of course you have a literal danger sense."

Fang just stared for a minute before she shrugged in defeat, knowing that they did not have time to argue right now, and then turned to Lightning as she said, "Well either way, you'll still need to see if you can't cool off that head of yours." She then fell in step behind Spider-Man as he started leading their march forward just in time to ask him, "Out of curiosity, how'd you find us anyway? I'm pretty sure you didn't follow after us right away."

"I put a tracking device on you," was Spider-Man's simply reply as he tapped a couple controls on his left web-shooter, which revealed the Spider-Tracer to all before it actually jumped off of Fang and scuttled over to its owner like an actual spider.

The two women just stared at Spidey in silence for a moment as he pocketed the tracking device in his belt, until Fang finally said, "Handy, but aren't you worried that someone else might be able to pick up the signal?"

"Nope," Spider-Man confidently replied, and quickly signaled for the two pause and keep silent a moment later when he heard someone talking from just around the bend. Looking in the speaker's direction, the group was greeted with another squad of soldiers who were clearly conversing amongst themselves about recent orders that they had received, and naturally, Spidey wanted to listen and hear what they were saying before making any moves. Of course, he also wanted to see if any of them would leave the area afterwards, but somehow, he doubted that they would. Right now, he was just glad that none of them seemed to be in possession of the tech that had been used against him earlier.

"This will be a joint operation, conducted in unison with members of the Guardian Corps. PSICOM will retain command authority for the duration," the lead soldier informed his troops.

"What happened? Are they here? The l'Cie," another soldier asked.

"Yes, so do not hesitate to shoot on sight. Spider-Man has been confirmed to be aiding them as well, so if any of you are in possession of some of the Doc's new weapons, you are to engage him using those at once. Director Rosch's orders."

"The army's getting desperate. We're about to have a lot of company," Lightning noted.

"A couple of lovely, dynamite women and a masked, handsome devil like us? It'd be a little strange if we weren't at least a little popular," Spidey joked.

While Lightning rolled her eyes in response, Fang actually gave a small smile as she informed him, "I think I'm starting to like you, Bug-boy."

"Ooh, Bug-boy. Never heard that one before," Spider-Man sarcastically remarked. "Seriously, why can't anyone remember that spiders are arachnids?"

"Maybe because nobody really cares that much," Lightning offered. "Now can we please get through these guys so we can get to Hope's house?"

"Yeah, sure thing," Spider-Man shrugged, and like that, the three were off.

At this point it does not really need to be said how effective a fighting team Lightning and Spider-Man made in the confrontation that had followed, though in the case of Fang, that would be a different story. The mysterious spear-woman proved to be just as deadly in battle as Lightning, perhaps even more so, which was an impressive feat given that Fang did not use a weapon that had long-range capabilities like Lightning's gunblade. Though her fighting style was decidedly much more brutal than Lightning's, one thing that stood out more than anything else was that her fighting style was more like that of a hunter than a soldier. More than that, there was also something else about her that made Spidey feel like it was only half as effective as it could have been at times, like Fang was missing a crucial part of her typical battle strategy. Thankfully, he and Lightning were more than able to make up for that, and in no time at all, the three had made it through the first wave of soldiers that were in their path.

They did not want to waste too much time afterwards, so Spidey made it a point to remove as many soldiers that came after that first wave as he could, while Lightning and Fang dealt with the ones he could not. This mostly consisted of Spider-Man tying up several of the basic soldiers while blinding the ones using larger mechs and heavy-duty armors. Despite what you may think, this actually proved to be an effective strategy, because with the small fries out of the way, Lightning and Fang were able to put more of their focus into the bigger targets without worry, and battling said targets was made all the more easier when Spider-Man joined in wherever he could. In short, it almost seemed like Light and Spidey had made Fang a major player in their battle styles and formations flawlessly, like she had been an old friend rejoining the group after a long time, even though they had literally just met her a few minutes ago.

Eventually, they managed to catch a break from the action and were moving forward once more, only to pause for a few seconds when Spider-Man sensed something up ahead and signaled for the other two to wait as he peered around the corner to see what was waiting for them up ahead. Feeling curious herself, Fang moved over to where Spidey was perched on the wall, and snuck a peak for herself, though she did not see anything that would warrant concern, but she clearly knew that was no reason to just charge ahead recklessly. When she stood up straight again, it was just in time for Lightning to catch a glimpse of something odd on her arm: a l'Cie brand, similar to hers, but white in color and seemingly faded out. Noticing that particular mark instantly put Lightning on guard as she slightly backed away a little from the spear-woman, discreetly signaling for Peter to do the same, and then asked the all important question that she and her arachnid friend had been wondering since she first appeared with Snow.

"Who are you," Lightning demanded.

Judging by how she glanced at the brand on her arm, it did not take Fang long to figure out why Lightning had asked that question, and the small glance also drew Peter's attention to the brand as well, making him wonder how he had not noticed it until now as well and silently ask the same question at the same time. Fang on the other hand, just sighed as she rubbed the back of her neck, seemingly hesitant, but in reality just a bit unsure. "Where do I start," Fang questioned, only to receive nothing but silence from the other two. She then smirked a little in reply to this silence before she looked back to the other two and began to reveal her secret to them. "I've got a few screws loose, but I'm a l'Cie, same as you two."

"Uh no. I'm a metahuman, she's a l'Cie," Spider-Man corrected.

"Sure you are," Fang sarcastically agreed. "Look, I heard about the whole 'l'Cie proof' thing from Snow, and honestly, I don't buy it."

"Well, you're gonna have to, because I've never had a l'Cie brand before or after Light and the others became l'Cie, and I don't think it's likely that I'm ever going to, seeing as apparently, being a totem of the Great Web of Life and Destiny makes that impossible," Spidey informed her.

"Uh-huh. I've heard stories about the Spider-Totems and their great web, pal, but that's all they are: stories. Things that parents would tell their kids to teach them right from wrong, along with the idea that you should be careful around said totems," Fang informed him, surprising both spider-hero and ex-soldier alike. The idea that someone somewhere in this universe had come up with stories about Spider-Man, or at least the more mystical point of his origins was not something that had ever occurred to either of them for even a second, and they were sure that no one on Cocoon could have come up with them since no one had ever even seen or heard of someone or something like Spider-Man until now, but apparently, someone had according to Fang.

"Well, you might want to start believing, because we saw a fal'Cie try to turn him into a l'Cie and fail. He doesn't have a brand anywhere on him, and I've seen more than enough proof to back his story up," Lightning added in Spidey's defense.

Fang stared at the rosette for a minute before she just shrugged and said, "All right. If you say so."

"Really? You'll buy it just like that after Light tells you this, but you remain skeptical when I tried to tell you," Spider-Man asked.

"Does she really look like someone who would just make up a story that crazy?"

"…Good point."

"What's that supposed to mean," Lightning demanded of the two.

"Just that your incredibly serious, and not one to indulge in telling wild stories that would be far too crazy for anyone to actually believe," Spider-Man teased in response.

"I'll take that as a compliment," Lightning smirked in response.

"If you two don't mind, perhaps you lovebirds could save your flirting for after I've explained myself," Fang interrupted.

"We're not flirting/We're just good friends," Spider-Man and Lightning simultaneously retorted, both with slight tinges of pink on their cheeks.

"Right," Fang replied with an amused eye-roll. "Anyway, like I was saying, I'm a l'Cie like Lightning. Difference being…I wasn't born on Cocoon."

"Come again," Spider-Man exclaimed while Lightning gasped in shock, knowing what Fang likely meant by that.

"I'm from Gran Pulse. The 'world below' you all hate so much," Fang continued. "My partner and I'd turned to crystal there and gone to sleep, but when we came around, here we were." Fang only paused for a second to let that sink in before she delivered another shocker to the two of them that they did not see coming at all. At least, not entirely. "The reason Cocoon's in such an uproar is the same reason you're both here now. Vanille and I woke up."

"You and who," Spider-Man practically shouted in disbelief.

* * *

Hope and Snow had barely stopped moving for more than a few seconds after they parted from Spider-Man, but considering it was either that or get shot by the soldiers that were lurking around every corner, they were not complaining at all. If anything, it kept them from really thinking too much on topics that they did not want to worry about right at the moment. For Hope, it was the reminder that he was currently hanging around the guy he had once placed all the blame for his mother's death on, while in Snow's case, it was thoughts of Lightning's reaction to seeing him, and of how he had not been able to tell her about what he learned regarding Serah yet. Of course, those were not the only things on their minds, but those were the most dominant thoughts at the moment. That was not to say that Snow was not thinking about his promise to Hope's mother, or Hope had forgotten about some of the things that Lightning and Spidey had told him during their travels together up until now, but at the moment, both of their minds were more focused on getting through the soldiers that were now standing between them and Hope's neighborhood, and their planned meet-up with Lightning, Spider-Man, and Fang.

Even so, they did get a few breaks here and there, including the one where Snow received Fang's call so that he could report on their status, and then get Hope's address from Lightning. He had no idea what Hope had been talking about when he had spoken with Lightning (something about an Operation Nora or other), but he did know enough to realize that they were not likely going to be getting anymore calls to or from the other three anytime soon after the line went dead, along with the fact that they were likely going to run into even more trouble afterwards if they did not get moving right away, so that's exactly what the two boys did once Snow had pocketed the communication device again. That did not mean that he was not worried about the others though, but he did not give voice to it as easily as Hope did.

"Do you think they're okay," the boy asked the massive blonde.

Snow just laughed a bit and said, "Trust me, it'll take a lot more than anything these guys have got to take down Lightning. Besides, you're the one who's been traveling with her and Spider-Man, so you should know pretty well how tough they are just from that."

"Fair enough," Hope shrugged in admittance, while his eyes gained a far-off look as he reminisced on some of the fights he had gotten into with those two, namely the ones that he was mostly just watching. "The way those two just move through a battlefield together is just…it's hard to really describe the feeling in words."

"Huh. I never really noticed before when we were all traveling together, but that's probably understandable," Snow commented. He then slowed to a stop and waved for Hope to do the same before looking around the next corner to see if the coast was clear. When he saw that it was, he looked back to Hope and could not help but study the kid a little, as he finally noticed something in the boy that he had not before now. "You've changed, haven't you, Hope?" When the boy just gave a confused look, Snow elaborated, "It seems like you've toughened up a bit, in more ways than one."

"I'm a l'Cie. I had to," Hope pointed out. "Besides, like you said, I was traveling with Light and Spidey, so getting stronger was necessary if I wanted to make it."

Snow just grinned in response before asking, "Lightning didn't give you too hard a time, did she?"

"Not really," Hope admitted, not wanting to bring up the events that had led to the fight with Odin. "And besides, even if she did, I doubt Spidey would've let her get away with it."

"You noticed that too, huh," Snow asked. "How the web-head seems to have reigned Lightning in a little?"

"I wouldn't quite put it like that, but yeah, I noticed," Hope nodded.

"Well, it's good to know that she's got a couple of friends looking out for her," Snow nodded. He then looked out over the area before waving for them to keep moving once he saw that they were in the clear. When he glanced back at Hope again, thinking about what the kid had gotten dragged into, Snow could not help but sigh as he said, "The only ones that ought to be fighting the army are us dumb grown-ups."

That got Hope's attention, and his anger up a few notches, since in a way, Snow had just called his mother stupid. Still, he managed to keep his voice calm as he asked, "You think it's stupid to fight?"

Snow had to pause in his advance for a minute so that he could really think, bringing Hope to a stop behind him as well. The two just stood there for a minute in silence afterwards, until Snow finally spoke up again. "I used to think that it was if you got killed, but that was before I met your mom and Spider-Man. Ever since then, I've figured that if you've got something worth fighting for, then it definitely isn't stupid to fight. I don't know the full reasons for why Spidey does, but I do know that it's because he has a philosophy that prevents him from looking the other way if he thinks there's something he can do to help."

Hope had to agree with that, but there was still something that confused him in regards to what Snow said. "How did my mom help you figure that out though?"

"You're kidding, right," Snow asked with a chuckle. He quickly sobered up when he saw that Hope was serious, and said, "Hope, you just need to look in a mirror to know what it was that your mom was fighting for. I may not have ever known my parents, but I do know enough to know that to any real parent, there's nothing more important than their kid. That alone makes your mom one of the smartest and bravest people I've ever met."

Hearing that from Snow made Hope feel a little lighter for some reason, like some powerful weight had just been lifted from his shoulders a little, but at the same time, it also made him feel like another one had been dropped onto him. If what Snow said was true, then did that mean that his mother would not have died if he had not been so weak back then? That was not a question that Hope wanted to think about, so he quickly moved on to another question. "What about the Sanctum soldiers?"

"Now those guys are definitely idiots," Snow instantly said. "Sure, some of them may be signing up to protect Cocoon and all of that, but most of them have joined up because they're afraid of anything that might be from Pulse, and they just want to kill it the minute they see it. That's no real reason to fight, so that makes them dummies."

"And You? Where do you think you are in this," Hope questioned.

Snow did not answer right away this time, but when he did, it was with a bit of uncharacteristic sadness as he admitted, "I'm not entirely sure. Yeah, I went into the Hanging Edge to save Serah, along with whoever else I could, and I'm still fighting to save Serah and get you home, but considering what had happened back then, and how much I've really done to help you up until now…" Snow could not bring himself to finish, so instead, he just shook it off and flashed a quick smile and a confident wink at Hope as he said, "Anyway, just lay low. Let the dummies duke it out. The army's…"

Hope was a bit put off when Snow did not finish that last sentence, and he could not help but ask, "The army's what?"

"Forget it," Snow immediately said. He honestly figured that his gang's usual catchphrase would not be something that would go over well with the kid, since he knew that his team and Hope's mother shared a name.

"If it's anything to do with what you and your gang call yourselves, don't worry about it. Lightning already told me where you got the name from. Besides, I kinda want to hear it," Hope reassured Snow.

Feeling a bit reassured at that, Snow took a deep breath, smiled again, and finished, "The army's no match for NORA, right?"

Hope said nothing for a moment, and simply stared blankly at Snow for a few seconds before he smiled a little too and said, "Yeah, that's right, in regards to both you and your friends, and Mom." Snow smiled a little wider at hearing the kid say that, and quickly started to press onwards again, not knowing that Hope was looking at him with new understanding, mostly because he was now able to see something he had not before, thanks in part to what a certain wall-crawler had said. _'He was smiling…No, he was putting on a mask. Just like you said, Spidey.'_

The two continued on silence afterwards, though it was much more comfortable than before, but their advance soon came to another halt, this time due to a couple of Sanctum patrols flying past and overhead. Ducking into cover, they then heard what sounded like soldiers making an announcement, and they quickly picked up on the words "evacuation protocol" and "secure location." Moving ahead so that they could get a better look, the two peaked over to see PSICOM was ushering a crowd of civilians out of the area. Seeing this might have reassured the average person, but Snow and Hope both knew better, having been through this once before. They were well aware that these soldiers were not likely ushering anyone along to anywhere for their safety.

"The Sanctum follows fal'Cie orders. It's not just after l'Cie," Snow whispered. "They'll target civilians, and Purge everyone who's a threat."

"And more innocents get killed," Hope finished, glaring at the soldiers ahead of them when he did.

"You can't take the blame for that," Snow told Hope, knowing that the kid was likely thinking that right now.

"Someone has to," Hope argued. "Just like someone has to do something to stop this."

"Don't worry. I wasn't planning on just sitting back and letting these people suffer," Snow reassured the kid. "If we let loose, we'll bring the army right to us."

"Draw their fire," Hope asked, not liking the sound of where this was going, considering that it had a large chance of getting them killed.

"I'm supposed to protect you, both for Lightning and Spidey, and for your mom, but I can't let this happen. It's a tough call, that's for sure," Snow lightly informed Hope.

"Not really. I don't want to just sit here and let this happen either," Hope admitted.

"Well then, I guess the only choice is to try and save everyone, huh," Snow asked with a confident grin. "So, Hope…are you with me on this?"

"Yeah," Hope nodded after a moment. "I've got your back."

"Thanks," Snow nodded back in appreciation. "Here goes nothing!"

The two were off and running after that, bashing in the heads of the PSICOM soldiers that were rounding up the citizens who were likely about to be Purged. It was not exactly all that easy though, considering that the two were not used to fighting with one another, and they had to learn to adapt to the other's fighting style quickly, but thankfully, Hope was able to adapt pretty smoothly, having seen how Snow fought a few times before now, and his training with Lightning and Spider-Man was a huge help as well. Snow eventually managed to figure out a rhythm that worked with Hope as well, and soon enough, the two were almost at the level of a well-oiled machine when it came to working together. The only reason they were not entirely there was because there was still an air of tension between the two of them due to the various amounts of drama, but they were not letting that get the better of them for the sake of all the people that they were trying to save. They tried to refrain from using their magic too much though, knowing that doing so would likely scare the people they were trying to save, but that did not mean that they did not use any at all. They just stuck with spells that were not quite as noticeable like when Snow would coat his fists in ice magic for a frost strike, while Hope carefully threw out a fire spell or two when no one was paying attention. Hope also made sure to use healing magic whenever he had the chance, knowing that they would need to stay in top condition at all times, and thanks to his training, he was able to figure out how to use said magic in a way that went unnoticed, and allowed others to think that he and Snow were just very resilient and tough.

Then again, the two did not have to do all that much for most of their fights, because for the most part, it seemed pretty clear that the soldiers they were fighting were no tougher than the ones that they had initially encountered back in Lake Bresha. There were some fights that were harder than others, but those were few and far in-between, and most of those battles were only more difficult due to the fact that they seemed to possess tougher armor that almost seemed impenetrable for whatever reason. In addition to that, the soldiers wearing said armor seemed to have an extra bit of physical strength to their punches, but for whatever reason, most of them still just tried shooting at the two first. Maybe it was just out of habit, or maybe it was because some of them actually knew who the two were, after all, Hope's face was just plastered all over the news barely more than an hour or so ago so that would not have been a surprise, but whatever the case might have been, both Hope and Snow were glad that they did not have to deal with the full strength of the guys who were using the new armor up close right away. It was a feeling that was only reinforced by how they saw one guy in the new armor crack the ground beneath their feet with a single punch, not to any great extreme, but definitely enough to be noticeable. Aside from that one little hiccup, they really had no problems dealing with PSICOM, until they reached another plaza that is.

With the barricades at all the streets out and numerous soldiers surrounding the area, you would have had to have been either blind, incredibly ignorant, or just plain crazy to not notice the crowd of people just ahead of the two that had been rounded up right in the open, and since they had already seen what had happened to Bodhum, Hope and Snow both knew what this likely meant. That on its own would have been cause enough for them to get involved, but what really made it serious for them was when they spotted a few kids in the group, including a small girl who was clutching a stuffed toy as tight as her little arms could. Snow did not hesitate to charge forward with Hope hot on his tail, and the minute they had gotten close enough to draw a soldier's attention, Snow took action, starting by decking the soldier that had first noticed them. His attack on the soldier immediately startled the crowd into a mild panic, but it was not quite to the point where Snow had been aiming for. Instead, people just backed away from him, muttering in confusion or huddling up in fear of what was happening, including the mother of the little girl that Hope had noticed earlier, and Snow could only think of one way to get everyone to do what he wanted them to at this point, much to his chagrin.

When he saw the blonde grimace a little and then scoop up the soldier's dropped weapon, Hope instantly figured out what Snow was planning, and he made his way over to the woman and her daughter as quickly as he could, knelt down next to them, and whispered, "Don't worry. I know he may not seem like it, but my friend and I are here to help you. The minute he makes his next move though, I need you both to run and get out of here as fast as you can. Follow the crowd at first, but the minute you get a chance, break off and run to the nearest transport out of town that's still running. Okay?"

The mother just looked at Hope in confusion, not entirely understanding him, but the girl seemed to get what he was saying, so she simply nodded in reply, drawing a smile from Hope before he patted her head a little, both to show he was glad she understood him, and to show the mother that he was indeed friendly. It seemed to do the trick, as the mother smiled in response a minute later, and then started moving both herself and her daughter further into the crowd and away from Snow, but much more calmly than they had been before, leaving Hope to wonder how and when he suddenly got so good at calming people down. He shrugged it off as being something that was a result of Spidey's influence, but mostly because that was all he had time to do, as Snow had enacted his plan by raising the gun into the air and firing it into the sky. "I am a Pulse l'Cie," Snow shouted as the gunshots rang out, startling the crowd into a panic to start running. "I'm here to kill you all!"

Hope glanced around to see that while most of the people were fleeing in terror, the mother and child he had spoken to were only running along with crowd like he had told them too, and it looked like a few others were doing the same, indicating that they had probably overheard him when he was talking to the two. When the last of the crowd had vacated the area, he immediately rushed up to Snow and asked, "Don't you think that might've been a little too much, or that maybe that kind of open declaration might come back to bite us later?"

Snow just shrugged as he tossed the emptied and smoking gun aside before turning his gaze upwards to where some airborne soldiers were flying in from, and replied, "Doesn't matter right now. I did what I was trying to do: Clearing the area."

A shower of gunfire was quick to punctuate Snow's sentence, drawing Hope to quip, "Couldn't you have done that without making us even bigger targets than we already were?"

"Wouldn't have mattered either way," Snow retorted as he pushed Hope down into cover. "They'll still open fire on a crowd. Doesn't matter who dies. Just wipe 'em all out!"

Hope would not have argued even if he wanted to, because he knew Snow was right. He had seen firsthand what PSICOM and the Sanctum were willing to do in order to eliminate any thing that so much as came into contact with something from Pulse, and he was not about to let them bring harm to the people of his hometown. Of course, the other reason he did not argue was because they now had to deal with a lot of airborne PSICOM soldiers, which was much more difficult than fighting the ones that stayed on the ground, but that was really more of a minor detail in his book. On the other hand, those same, airborne soldiers were also using jetpacks that had large wings attached, as opposed to the standard variety that Snow and Hope had both seen at one point or another, so that did make the fight a bit more important than trying to argue with Snow on anything at the moment.

It took a while to deal with that first squad, even with the use of magic, though that was mostly because the soldiers had displayed that the wings on their jetpacks could be used for more than just aiding in their aerial maneuvers. They would occasionally fold the wings over them in order to form a defensive shield and even swing them towards the two so that a series of talons would be launched out at the two. Neither of the two wanted to know just how sharp said talons were, but they ended up getting a very good idea when one of those talons cleanly sliced through a steel guardrail that Snow had been standing in front of before having to jump aside, and the blonde would not deny that he went a little pale at realizing just how close that was to being him. Still, the two were able to take down the first squad in a reasonably short time, but the ones that followed proved to be a bit more difficult, partly because they were also dropping off shock troopers that were using gauntlets that fired out powerful shockwaves, some of which actually tore a nearby wall apart with just one blast. Thankfully, Snow and Hope were able to keep the playing field a little even with their magic, which they were now using openly and freely. After all, why try to hide what they could do now that likely the entire city knew who and what they were due to the broadcast that had been playing earlier, and Snow's earlier actions? There was still a downside to those actions though, and it came much sooner than they had been hoping it would.

After taking out another squad of soldiers, Snow had quickly spotted a standard version of the jetpacks that PSICOM was using, and rushed over to it thinking that he could get it working again in order to help them escape from the crossfire they were caught in. As he did so, he did not notice that a small child had huddled up nearby, crying in fear, but Hope did, and he quickly went to see if she was okay. It was around that point that the people he and Snow had helped earlier made themselves known again, only this time not as an ignorant crowd, but an angry mob, all shouting at Snow and Hope to get lost and die. Hope had to scowl a little at the people of his hometown. He and Snow had just saved their lives, and that was how they were thanking them? Then again, it's not like most of these people really knew any better, but it still left him feeling upset. When the girl noticed the mob, she quickly stood up and pushed Hope down as she ran over to them, and Hope was about to get upset at her to when he realized that she was the same girl from earlier, and upon glancing over to her, he saw that she had already run into her mother's arms before the both of them turned back to throw Hope a subtle wink, drawing a small smile onto Hope's face.

Snow on the other hand did not notice the exchange, as he was more focused on the crowd at large after hearing them approach. In response to the angry shouts and bared arms, Snow simply flexed the arm his brand was on for them all to see, while it began to shine brightly to signal he was preparing to use some form of magic. Hope realized this soon after the crowd had jumped back a little, and he did not want Snow to attack these people just because they did not understand what was really going on, so he started looking around for a way to appease both sides. Eventually, his eyes were drawn upward towards some old scaffolding above them, and he then quickly turned to the blonde and shouted, "Snow, up there!"

Snow glanced upwards and immediately caught on to Hope's train of thought when he saw the scaffolding. He then waited a minute for the mob to back up a little more before he released a powerful blast of ice magic on the old, rusted metal, causing it to come loose from where it was held and then collapse down on the street between the two sides. Seeing this display of magic definitely persuaded the mob to back off, but hearing their fear induced voices still brought a sad frown to Hope's face, making him wonder once again if they were right to fear him and his current partner. When he stood up again, Hope faced the people on the other side of the collapsed metal and muttered a brief apology before turning to Snow as the blonde finally finished starting up the jetpack. With his task done, Snow quickly grabbed onto Hope and flew them both out of the alleyway just seconds before another squad of soldiers had shoved through the crowd and opened fire on them, unable to do anything more than that besides watching as the two flew away and out of their sights.

* * *

Their escape flight was so far from being considered as smooth, that you would have to have been as crazy as the craziest man Spidey knew to so much as begin to think otherwise, but all the same, Snow and Hope still made it to a safe location, at least for the moment. Snow knew that they needed to keep moving, but since there was no way he was going to get the jetpack flying again, they had no other choice but to continue on foot as they had been before. He probably could have summoned the Shiva Sisters again to help out, but considering that they were now traversing across rooftops, that did not seem like the best idea, especially since PSICOM had now practically placed the entire city on lockdown, at least from his perspective. He was just glad that Hope was able to identify where in Palumpolum they had landed, and thankfully, he also confirmed that his neighborhood was not too far away now, so there was that saving grace at least. Still, they had to get there before night had fallen, otherwise, there was no telling what would happen, and it was already entering twilight hours.

Even though he was still able to keep up with Snow, Hope's pace had become a little slower as his mind went back to the mob that they had been facing earlier. He knew that everyone hated l'Cie, especially in the case of Pulse l'Cie, and that their hatred also doubled as fear, so he should not have been surprised by how that crowd had reacted to him and Snow. Despite knowing that, he still ended up feeling extremely upset about it all, driving him further into the despair and confusion that he was already feeling. How could he really deal with his thoughts about how he would deal in response to Snow's earlier apology if he had to bear the burden of such hatred at the same time? More to the point how was Snow able to handle it and still keep going like this? Yes, he knew now that Spidey had been telling the truth when he said that the blonde had been putting up a front when he had been smiling to hide how upset he was, but that still did not help Hope to find the answers that he was trying to obtain.

Hope was pulled from his thoughts when Snow suddenly came to a stop, pointed off into the distance and asked, "Felix Heights is that way, right?" After looking in the direction that the blonde had indicated, Hope nodded in response, prompting Snow to say, "Still _pretty_ far." He then noticed an advertisement for the area, and had to smile a little as he recited the words in it. "'A great place for family living.' So they say. Guess you would know better than I would, seeing as you actually do live there, huh? Care to comment on how true that is?"

The boy had to think for a minute before he finally shrugged and said, "I don't really know one way or the other. I've lived in the area my entire life, so I can't really compare it to anything else. The only time I've ever actually left Palumpolum at all was when Mom and I…" A small glance in Snow's direction let Hope know that the blonde did not need him to finish that sentence, seeing as the bigger man's head had fallen a little in acknowledgment of this. "Doesn't really matter now though. L'Cie don't have family."

The big guy was not about to let Hope start down that train of thought, and he could only think of one way to divert it at the moment. "You've got your dad, don't you? That seems like family to me."

Apparently, that was not the right thing to say to Hope, as the boy just huffed and glared off to the side as he said, "My dad's never been around. He's always been more concerned with his work than anything else. Ever since I can remember it's always been just me and Mom. Besides, maybe he would have been at least a little happy to see I was okay after Bodhum, but…now that I'm a l'Cie…"

"He's still your dad, and at least you still have that," Snow pointed out to Hope, drawing the kid's attention to him completely. "I'm actually kinda jealous of you, Hope. See, I'm an orphan…I barely got to know my family. Don't even remember my parents at all. Sure, I had my pals in my gang, but aside from that, I was always alone. I figured that there wasn't anything better than being alone for a long time."

"What changed," Hope asked.

Snow had to chuckle a little as he said, "You're probably gonna think this is completely cheesy, but the thing that changed was that…I met Serah. She showed me that there was something better than being alone: being with someone you care about more than anything, and having that person care about you just as much. Not just because she became my girlfriend, but because I could tell how much she cares about Lightning. That's why I decided that someday, I'm gonna have my own family. I still plan to once I save Serah, protect Cocoon, and fulfill my promise to Nora. You know, assuming I survive your revenge, that is."

Hope could appreciate what Snow was trying to do with that small joke of his, and it showed in how the corners of his mouth turned up a little in response to it, but it was gone as quickly as it came when he asked, "How exactly?"

"That's a good question," Snow admitted with a short, humorless laugh. He then turned to face the horizon ahead of them again as he continued, "I want to do what's right, but everyone hates l'Cie. Kind of hard to help someone that's trying to kill you."

"Yeah. Kinda makes you wonder how Spidey did it," Hope commented, thinking back to what he and the others had heard about from the web-head after they had escaped Lake Bresha.

Since he was not there at the time, Snow naturally looked to Hope in confusion and asked, "What're you talking about?"

Hope had to shake his head a little at his forgetfulness of the fact that Snow was not around at the time when they had learned that fact about Spidey, and he quickly explained, "Spidey revealed to us that back where he's from originally, he would get labeled as a menace or a threat a lot, but he acted like it was no big deal. I think he said something like it didn't matter what people said about him, but what he chose to do."

Snow took a minute to process that before he finally laughed a little bit and said, "Well, I guess I've got yet another reason to respect and admire Spider-Man. It sounds like he and I agree on the point I'm trying to make here. Trust me, everything will work out in the end, as long as we stay together and hold on to hope."

"Do we even have any," Hope asked. "Most people think that a l'Cie's only hope is a quick death, so what if they're right?"

Snow was not sure if he had an answer for that, but before he could even give one, the two heard an explosion ring out from somewhere nearby, and they knew that likely meant that PSICOM was a bit closer to where they were than they originally thought, so they immediately raced out of the area and off to Hope's house as fast as they could. The only problem was that it did not matter how fast they moved to get from one area to the next, because they would always seem to run afoul of some soldiers that were patrolling the skies, along with a Velocycle or two here and there. Thankfully, since they were no longer in an area where they would have to worry about drawing attention from a crowd or risk hurting any bystanders, neither of the two had to hold back anymore, and they made sure that they made it quite clear just how strong they really were with every encounter they had with the anti-Pulse task force.

All the same, Hope's earlier words did not stop running through either of their heads. Sure, everyone thought that l'Cie were doomed to live cursed lives for eternity, but did that really mean the only real hope they had left was for a quick death? Snow certainly did not want to think so, not when he had so much he needed and wanted to do. After all, he had to keep his promises to Nora, Hope, and everyone else he had given his word to, and he was not about to die before he fulfilled any of them. Besides that, he just had to believe that their Focus was to save Cocoon, even if he was only basing it on Serah's last words before she had turned to crystal. There was just no way it could have been anything else in his mind, and Snow had never second-guessed any of his decisions in regards to Serah before, or believed that Serah could ever do anything that would bring harm to him or anyone else. Why should he start now? The only question was how could he get Hope to see that? Or to be more accurate, how could he protect Cocoon and finally set things right with Hope after how he had failed to save the boy's mother.

The blonde was still trying to figure all of this out even after they had finally stopped for a rest at a terrace that overlooked the area that counted as the very edge of Hope's neighborhood and had a few drink machines nearby as well. Snow had gone to said vending machines to get something for Hope, thinking that the kid would probably need something to help him regain some lost energy, but Hope declined the offer as politely as he could, so Snow ended up having the acquired drink for himself while gazing out at the view ahead of them, continuing to think about the matter as he did. He was soon stirred from his thoughts when Hope suddenly spoke up again. "Snow? I wanted to ask you something."

"What's that," Snow asked after he had taken a big gulp of his drink.

Hope hesitated for a minute before he finally asked, "Well…If you didn't know about how I wanted to…you know, what would your plan be? I feel like I need to know."

Snow thought about it for a minute before he let out a small smile and said, "Well, if I'm being honest, it would actually be a pretty simple plan: Save Serah, protect Cocoon, and have myself a big, happy family."

"Is that really all," Hope asked, not entirely sure if he believed that was all that Snow really wanted. When the blonde nodded, Hope had to ask, "Well then, what would you do if…if that family was taken away from you? If you couldn't get them back and you knew who was responsible."

"…This is in regards to your revenge against me, isn't it," Snow asked sadly, his smile falling a little.

Hope did not answer that question, but instead, he simply said, "I just want you to be honest with me about this, and not just tell me whatever you would tell others to keep them from worrying about you or the situation surrounding you and them."

"Huh…I didn't think you would pick up on that," Snow admitted with a sigh, even as he tossed his empty drink can into a distant trash bin.

"I didn't at first, until Spidey pointed it out to me, and then I could see it pretty well," Hope revealed.

"Huh. That guy is just too good at everything, isn't he," Snow remarked. He fell silent for a couple of minutes, until he finally faced Hope straight in the eye, his face betraying his true emotions even though it was blank save for a small frown as he spoke. "Hope, I know I've said this before, but…I'm sorry. What happened…It was my fault. I put her in danger despite how much I wanted her to just stay behind so she could keep you safe. Now though, I just want to make things right."

"You told me before that you couldn't," Hope reminded him, thinking back to their conversation in the Vestige.

"And that words were useless, and a lot of other things I shouldn't have said," Snow finished. "Believe me, I've been kicking myself a thousand times over for what had happened, maybe even more when I found out you were the one she meant when she had told me 'get him home.' At the time, I thought if I couldn't make up for it, then all the apologies in the world wouldn't mean a thing, and even now, I'm not entirely sure it would make a difference. So I decided I had to find a way to pay for it first, before I'd even have the right to truly say sorry again. Maybe I was using that as an excuse, so I could run from my own guilt." He then paused for a minute, turning away as he felt that he could not truly face Hope at this point, but still continued on after regaining his bearings. "I don't deny that what happened was my fault, and I am sorry, Hope. I do intend to find a way to make things right, but like I said before, if nothing I do is good enough, then I'll take any punishment you want to dish out, because to me, there's nothing worse than the crime I committed against you: the crime of letting you lose your mother after I failed to keep her safe."

Hope was silent for what seemed like an eternity, though whether it seemed like that more to the boy or the blonde who was apologizing with every ounce of his being, one could not tell you, but you would be hard pressed to think that Hope was doing anything other than thinking over what Snow had just said, along with everything else he had learned from Light and Spidey. After the eternity of silence though, Hope finally managed to choke out a sentence at last. "She's gone, Snow. You can take the blame…but it won't bring her back." Hope could see Snow turning to face him again, only to lower his head in sadness, but he pressed on all the same, keeping the blonde from uttering so much as one syllable, even though he felt like he was going to start shedding some tears at any moment. "I-I knew it all along. I knew it, but…I had to blame someone. I had to. I needed a reason to keep on fighting, but I never once thought that it could have been the wrong reason."

"It wasn't _someone's_ fault. It was mine," Snow protested.

"No, it wasn't," Hope argued, looking Snow dead in the eye, startling the man at how insistent he sounded, even though sadness was still laced in his voice. Hope then pulled out the knife that Lightning had gave him, and then slowly walked towards Snow as he continued, "Maybe you did play some part in what had happened, and maybe that does mean you share some of the blame, but you didn't want it to happen, and if anyone is to blame, then I don't want to try and take it out on them for revenge. After all, revenge is like a poison that can take us over, control us, and sooner or later, turn us into something ugly. I don't want that to happen to either of us, so maybe…Maybe I finally figured out what my answer is."

"And just what is that," Snow asked softly once the kid was standing right in front of him, looking up at him with a sad, yet otherwise unreadable expression.

Hope just stared back at Snow for a few minutes before he grabbed one of Snow's arms, and placed Lightning's knife in his hand, startling Snow at the sight of it when he did, and then said, "I forgive you, Snow."

Snow's eyes slowly became as wide as dinner plates when he heard that, but a second later, he could not help but let a soft, sincere smile cross his face as he slowly nodded to the boy in thanks for that. The touching moment did not last forever though, as the two discovered a little too late that they had been spotted, and as a result, were knocked off their feet and the balcony they were standing on by an explosion that resulted from something blasting them from the air. Snow did not even need to think; he just grabbed Hope from the air, and then angled his body so that he would take the brunt of the impact when they eventually hit the ground. As a result, he ended up falling through some glass awnings, hard, until they finally dropped to the ground, where he let out one last groan of pain before he and Hope both passed out. Though it was not before Hope caught a glimpse of an odd looking monster that seemed to have been enhanced using the new technology that the soldiers from earlier were using, and what looked like a few pairs of long, metal arms.

* * *

 ** _AN: Not bad huh? This is definitely going down as my longest chapter to date, even beating out the records that were set by the Gundam SEED Prime Trilogy, so you know that's gotta be saying something. I'll be honest, though. I wasn't originally going to stop the chapter here, but it started getting to a point where the chapter was getting too long for my liking, while the chapter that would have followed would have been much too short._**

 ** _Spider-Man: Well on the bright side, I see you managed to work in some Spider-Man: Homecoming references._**

 ** _AN: Well can you blame me? That movie was AWESOME! No, it was AMAZING, SPECTACULAR, SENSATIONAL! I'm not just saying that, I really mean it! I've seen it three times now, and this is at a time while it is still in theaters!_**

 ** _Snow: Wow. Now that is something else._**

 ** _AN: I know! Best Spider-Man movie to date! Anyways, I just had to work in that little Interrogation Mode reference (sorry for the spoilers for those of you haven't seen the movie yet), because it was just so funny seeing it in the movie, and I could honestly see Spider-Man using that on Fang when he met up with her again. Expect a few more little tributes to Spider-Man: Homecoming in the chapters to come, just so you know. I want to be able to work as much stuff from that as I can into here._**

 ** _Moving on, yeah, the fight between Spider-Man and Rosch was necessary, because as far as I can remember, every fight you had against Rosch in FFXIII, he was using some big mech suit, and I wanted him to go toe-to-toe with one of our heroes at least once. Plus, it also gave us a perfect way to show off how some of the tech used by Spidey's villains has somehow found its way to Cocoon. So far, we've seen a rendition of Vulture's flight suit and Shocker's gauntlets, the latter of which also draws inspiration from the previously mentioned Spidey movie in terms of design, and apparently, it was all made by one particular scientist who had just joined up with PSICOM. I wonder who that could be? Well, I already know of course, and I did give quite a few hints as to who it is in this chapter, so I'm sure you can likely figure it out by now if you look hard enough. If you do figure it out though, please don't say anything in a review and spoil it for anyone who can't, even if I am sure that the number of people who can't is likely very small. Of course, with that last clue, and the biggest one, which you received at the end, I'm sure none of you will have a hard time guessing. Aside from that, you'll just have to wait until next chapter rolls around to find out. And in the meantime, we'll head Onto the Preview!..._**

 ** _Spidey's adventure through Palumpolum with Lightning and Fang continues after the l'Cie from Gran Pulse finishes regaling the other two with the tale that had lead her and Vanille to where they are today. While Lightning is still plagued with questions about where she needs to go from here, listening to Fang talk about her own plans seems to be giving her an idea on what to do, especially when Spidey's there to throw in some input of his own. Their moments of contemplation are soon brought to an end when they finally come close to Hope and Snow's location, and the mystery new scientist of PSICOM is revealed at last through the enemy that awaits the three when they finally arrive on the scene. Just who is it that has found their way to Cocoon from Spider-Man's old world, and what will happen after the group finally reaches Hope's home? It's time for some revelations to be unveiled, next time._**

 ** _Please read and review, and swing on back for next time fellow true believers!_**


	11. Rampant Reunions

**_AN: Hi-ya everybody! Welcome back to A Spider's Focus, for the conclusion of the adventures in Palumpolum._**

 ** _Hope: I kinda thought we'd be in my hometown a little longer than just two chapters._**

 ** _AN: Dude, have you seen the length of the last chapter, or this one for that matter? And believe it or not, this was all going to be one chapter, originally._**

 ** _Snow: Wow. Way to overextend yourself on your estimates._**

 ** _AN: Yeah, yeah. Moving on, let me start by answering to everyone who posted a review asking if I've considered doing certain crossovers. At the moment, I'm trying not to start on anything new, since I already have quite a few stories that I'm already actively focusing on. The ideas you guys suggested are interesting, but I'm not likely to start on anything similar to them any time soon. I realize that you're just asking if I've considered the ideas, but I just want to make this point clear._**

 ** _More to the point, I just want to say that at the moment, the only Transformer crossover story ideas I've had lately would be my ideas for my next Gundam &Transformers crossover, Transformers 00 (See profile for more information), and a couple of different Star Wars&Transformers ideas (again, see profile for more information)_**

 ** _Vanille: Hey, about the latter of those two, would Ahsoka be in either of them? [notices everyone giving her odd looks] What? She's cool._**

 ** _AN: The often-believed-to-be-airheaded-redhead is right. Ahsoka is cool._**

 ** _Vanille: Hey!_**

 ** _AN: And yes, Ahsoka would be in the Star Wars &Transformers crossovers. As for the ideas that were suggested in reviews, I'm afraid I would not be able to do either of those ideas justice, seeing as I don't really know that much if barely anything at all about the anime that were suggested. I would have to spend a good deal of time looking into both series before I felt comfortable enough to try and write a story about those series._**

 ** _In other response news, namely in answer to the reviewer "Odin's Eye" regarding whether or not I've ever thought of a Thor crossover, I've never really thought about it before, mostly because nothing's ever really come to mind that I thought I could work with. I appreciate the compliment when you say that you think I could handle it well though, so maybe I'll look into possibly trying something. Though I should warn you, most of the Thor stories I know of typically involve the other Avengers or just other Marvel characters period, so there's also that to think about._**

 ** _Spider-Man: Hey, I've got a question. When are we going to hear another expose about the Marvel universe in my point of view in this story again? Or more specifically, one that's about the other Spider-Heroes, because I'd like to hear some more details about them, and I'm sure everyone else would too._**

 ** _AN: All in due time, Spidey, and that actually reminds me of a few questions that were posed by a now-regular-reviewer, "Monkey D. Conan". Some of your questions will actually be answered this chapter, but I will go ahead and say now that we will be seeing Vanille and Sazh again next chapter at the earliest, and regarding your idea about Vanille talking about a marriage ceremony now that Fang's called Spidey and Lightning out on their obvious attraction to each other, I doubt that's going to happen, at least any time soon, but I can definitely see her doing that, and having stars in her eyes the entire time as she does._**

 ** _Well, I think that covers just about everything...[glances left, right, up, down, and every other direction for a minute] Nobody trying to give away spoilers...no Deadpool trying to break in...Hope nothing_ extremely _bad happens in the next few seconds...Huh, I guess we really are in the clear for once. Is it sad that I kinda find that disappointing? Oh well. On with the adventure everyone._**

 _ **I do not own anything from any Spider-Man or Final Fantasy franchises or any other franchise mentioned in this story.**_

* * *

 **Chapter 11: Rampant Reunions**

 **A Little While Earlier…**

It came as little of a shock that Lightning was barely able to say much of anything, but it was surprising that Spider-Man had kept quiet throughout Fang's recounting of her and Vanille's tale, and on how they had gotten to where they had before the Purge had started. Of course, that probably had something to do with the fact that part of him was still processing the idea that Vanille was actually from Pulse, or Gran Pulse as Fang insisted on them calling it, but that would have only been an idea that someone who did not know Peter would probably be thinking. In all honesty, it really was not that much of a shock to Peter as to where Vanille really came from after he thought about it for a second, especially when you also consider that Fang's style was very similar to the rather cheerful redhead's. No, what really had his head spinning was the fact that everything involved in Fang's story had only happened over the course of a mere five days. Sure, he had been through some things that had taken a much shorter time than it had seemed before, but given what Fang was telling them about, it was a bit much to swallow if you asked him.

"When we came out of crystal stasis, we didn't remember our Focus or what we'd done. All we could do was wander Cocoon, looking for what we'd lost," Fang recounted for the two. "That eventually led us to the Euride Gorge Energy Plant. I figured getting close to Cocoon fal'Cie would bring something back, but it did no good. Vanille wanted to just give up and go, thinking that our Focus didn't matter, but I wasn't about to call it quits that easily, not while there was a chance that Vanille would become a monster. At that point, I came up with another idea: we were supposed to be enemies of Cocoon, so I figured that if we played the part and raised some hell, it would jump-start our memories."

"The incident at the energy plant…That was caused by you and Vanille," Lightning guessed, remembering that Amador had mentioned something about it to her on the night of the fireworks festival before all of this had happened.

"Yep," Fang nodded. "I decided we should try smashing the fal'Cie out there in an attempt to get our memories back. Probably would've gone through with it too, had that kid not wandered in and surprised us. Cute little guy too, I have to admit, which just made it all the more messed up that he got made a l'Cie because of us. We didn't stick around too long after that aside from checking to see if the kid was okay, mostly because we could hear his dad coming, and there was no doubt that security was going to be hot on our trails shortly afterwards. Eventually, we got to an elevator, and Vanille tried begging me to consider giving up and forgetting about our Focus again. She thought we didn't need it, but I knew better. It was unfair, sure, but if we didn't complete our Focus, we'd end up as Cie'th, and the fal'Cie would start making more, like your sister."

"Why would the fal'Cie make Serah a l'Cie at all if you had just woken up and barely even started your jobs, though," Spider-Man asked.

"How should I know? All I know is that we didn't do our job right, and it probably figured it needed her for extra insurance. It doesn't really matter now though, does it," Fang shrugged a bit somberly. "Besides, even if we did call it quits, there was no way those soldiers would've let us go. They would've lynched us in the street, so I took the only action that was open to me. I sent Vanille on her way, making sure she wouldn't be able to get back, and fought off the soldiers myself to buy her some time, promising her I would come and find her no matter where she went. By the time I took care of 'em all, Vanille was long gone. After that, Raines and his Cavalry found me. I never stopped searching for Vanille, but I couldn't find her. Her, or our Focus."

It was certainly a touching story in its own way, and just from listening to all of that, Spidey was able to pick up on quite a few different things regarding Fang's character. Some of those things were already obvious to him after having spent time with the Pulsian woman, namely her determination and courage, but others were things he only realized after listening to her tell her story. The one thing that stood out the most was that Fang cared a great deal about Vanille, almost like an older sibling or a parent. The latter idea seemed a bit odd in Spidey's mind though the second it came to him, so he quickly decided that he was better off thinking of the relationship between the two Pulsians as more of a sisterly-like bond. He could understand wanting to do whatever you could to protect a younger sibling like that; he had a couple siblings of his own in the forms of Ben Riley and Kaine, the original and current Scarlet Spiders, and he also had a young protégé that had looked up to him like a younger brother, so he could not help but sympathize with Fang's situation a little, even if he did disagree with the methods she had chosen to pursue in order to reach her goals. Looking over to Lightning, he could tell she was able to see all of this too, but at the moment, her mind was a bit clearly more focused on something else, and he had a good idea on what that was.

"So, you're telling me Serah will come back to life someday, too," Lightning questioned, proving Peter's suspicions right with that one sentence.

"Yep," Fang nodded. She then paused for a minute before adding, "Like I said, we didn't do our job right. That's why it made her a l'Cie." She had to let out a sigh afterwards before finishing, "We messed up. Sorry."

Peter could just hear the gears grinding in Lightning's mind as she processed all of this while glaring at Fang, and when the rosette suddenly marched over to stand in front of Fang, he instantly tensed up a little in preparation for what she was going to do to the woman from Gran Pulse. Thought it was mostly in case he needed to hold her back from doing anything too drastic. Fang looked up at Lightning with a sad look on her face, showing how genuine she was in her apology, but that did nothing to prevent Lightning from slapping her across the face. When Light's hand struck Fang, Spidey could not help but wince a little, knowing firsthand just how hard Lightning's punches could be, and also because the sound seemed to be loud enough to startle a few nearby birds as well. Afterwards, he just watched with baited breath in case anything else happened, while Fang just rubbed her jaw a little where Lightning had struck her.

Eventually, Fang looked back up at the ex-soldier and asked, "That it?"

"You sure better hope so," Lightning cautioned after a minute. "But whether we're square, that's up to Serah."

Fang could only stare at her for a minute before she said, "You sound exactly like Snow."

"Yeah, not the best thing to tell Light," Spidey pointed out, and Lightning only reinforced his point as she huffed and turned away with her arms crossed.

"Doesn't change my point, and _Snow_ didn't hit me," Fang revealed.

"Wait…He already knows this," Lightning exclaimed in surprise.

When he heard that, Spidey immediately thought back to when they ran into Snow back at the station just before sending him off with Hope, and he immediately slapped his forehead as he realized, "Oh thwip! That's what he was trying to tell us earlier! Now I feel bad for webbing his mouth shut."

"If it makes you feel any better, I actually liked it when you did. Any chance you can do it again sometime in the future if I were to ask," Lightning asked with a small smile.

"Somehow I knew you were going to say that eventually," Spidey smirked in reply.

Fang simply smiled at the two's little back-and-forth, mostly because it was raising her spirits a little, along with one other thing. "Wow, that's a load off. Glad I apologized," Fang sighed in relief as she stood up from the pipe she was sitting on and stretched a little.

"You apologized so you'd feel better," Lightning questioned in disbelief.

"…Guess so," Fang admitted.

"I think I'm starting to see where Vanille gets some of her strangeness from," Spidey commented. "You know, in my experience, most people apologize for reasons that go beyond just making themselves feel better."

"Hey, first off, I never said I wasn't being sincere, and second, Vanille's always been the way she is, even without my influence. I just did my best to teach her how to rein it in by…a lot before she got herself into really serious trouble," Fang immediately defended. She then turned to Lightning and asked, "How about you? Feel any better now that you hit me?"

Lightning just stared at the spear-woman for a minute before she sighed a little and replied, "It didn't change anything."

"Uh-huh. Tell that to my jaw," Fang muttered in reply as she rubbed said jaw, earning her a hidden smirk from Spidey.

Peter was very tempted to make a joke out of that comment, but right now, they had more pressing matters to attend to. The first of those matters, and the most obvious one, was meeting up with Hope and Snow again, be it at the former's home or sooner, and he still was not receiving a signal from the Spider-Tracer he gave Hope. That would probably be a cause for concern right now, but Spidey was able to keep cool and stay optimistic by thinking that it was probably just because they were out of range at the moment. On the other hand though, there was also a chance that something was interfering with the signal, and considering what he suspected about PSICOM's newest science member, that suddenly seemed a bit more likely, but only by a small margin. There was also the chance that something in the city's structure was blocking the signal as well, but either way, he did not want to think like that. He just had to hope that they were simply out of range for whatever reason for the moment, which was all the more reason for them to get moving again.

"Well I don't know about you ladies, but I think we've rested enough for now, so what do you say we get moving again," Spider-Man suggested, jumping down from the wall he was perched on.

Both Lightning and Fang nodded in agreement to his suggestion, and the former then stepped around the corner to indicate the direction that they needed to move in order to reach Felix Heights. "Still a ways before we get to Hope's place," the rosette said.

"All the more reason to pick it up," Fang commented.

With that said, Lightning indicated a large gate just ahead of them that they would head through and the three were setting off once again. They did not have to go too far to reach it really, and all they really had to do for the most part was climb up a few ladders and stairways. Even with the short distance to their next destination, they did not kid themselves into thinking that they would not encounter any soldiers, and of course, those suspicions proved to be true. It was not anything too serious for the most part; just a few of the standard PISCOM troopers and an Orion mech or two. At least, that was the case until they had came to a stop just before the gate that they were hoping to go through, because said gate had one vicious guard dog waiting in front of it for them.

"Another Behemoth! How do we keep running into these things," Spidey groaned at the sight of said monster, this one being a dark, gold-yellow color, and possessing a much more dangerous feeling than the ones that he had encountered up until now.

Spider-Man's question went largely ignored, as the two fierce women were a bit more preoccupied with just charging into the fight against the beast, so he could do nothing more than join in on the fight as well. For the most part, this particular Behemoth was no different than any of the other ones that the web-head and his friends had fought so far, and that made it fairly easy to beat it back while avoiding whatever attacks it threw out at them. Lightning and Fang handled most of the attacks against the beast while Spider-Man kept nimbly dodging its strikes and immobilizing it with his webs so that the two would have more openings to exploit. That was not to say that Spidey did not get in a few shots of his own, because he did occasionally have to jump in and attack at the Behemoth head-on, normally so that Lightning and Fang could heal from whatever injuries they received when they did get hit. At other times, he would also just jump in and attack when it seemed like that would be more effective at giving the other two openings than his webbing it up would. Unfortunately, it did not remain as smooth sailing for very long.

Just when they thought that the Behemoth was about to go down for the count, the beast suddenly let out a deafening roar and then stood up on its hind legs while drawing a monstrous sword from somewhere, putting the two women on slight edge at the sight while Spider-Man gaped in shock at the new development. "And I thought these things were freaky before," Spidey muttered.

"Not getting scared, are you," Fang teased.

"Psh, please! I've seen way scarier things than that," Spider-Man easily quipped in reply, and he quickly his point by lunging right at the beast and jabbing it in the stomach. His blow did stagger the Behemoth a little, but not for a very long time, as it was soon swinging its massive blade at the web-head merely seconds later. This was not a concern though, as Spider-Man had easily sensed the attack coming, and managed to flip out of the way before the blade could hit him. Once he had landed again, he pressed on in his attack by lunging forward again to spin a couple of kicks into its head. He then used the monster itself as a springboard so he could spin back from it while snagging its sword arm with a couple of web-lines. The minute his feet had hit the ground, Spidey immediately pulled back on the webs until they were taut, keeping the monster from immediately swinging its weapon at the two charging femme fatales.

Lightning and Fang did not waste any time in pressing the advantage that Spider-Man had given them, and surprisingly, the former of the two was working a little l'Cie magic into a few of her strikes. After thinking about it for a minute though, it did not come off as too much of a surprise, because since Fang was rarely using any magic, and Spidey was unable to do so, it did make sense that it would fall to Lightning to become the one who would be casting a majority of the spells. Thankfully, it seemed that even without constantly using magic like Hope had, Lightning had managed to get a quick handle on quite a few spells, especially in the case of any magic that enhanced her sword strikes in some way. Maybe it was due to her training as a soldier, or maybe it was some other reason, but right now, no one really cared all that much. After all, who would really be questioning anything that gave them the advantage when they were facing down a massive bestial opponent with a sword? That line of thought would have to be reconsidered though, because Lightning was quickly getting tired out, as evidenced by how her movements were becoming more and more sluggish as the fight went on, until finally, it got to the point where she was unable to defend herself from the Behemoth's next sword swing. The result of said blow was Lightning getting thrown across their current battlefield and into the gate that they were hoping to pass through, where she fell unconscious.

Seeing Lightning get hurt caused something to snap in Spider-Man, because his eyes narrowed in pure rage, and it was all directed at the Behemoth that had inflicted said injury, and which Spider-Man was now flying towards with a quick web-slingshot. This time when he hit the monster in its torso, not only did stumble back by a few feet or so, but he also used his adhesive powers to stick to the creature and swing himself around onto its back while wrapping a web-line around its neck. After getting onto the monsters back, he fired another web from his free hand, completing the noose he had started forming with the other one, and he was soon riding it like it was a wild, rampaging bull. Not that he had difficulty doing so, seeing as he could stick to anything fairly easily, but there was a reason why he used his webs to make a set of impromptu reins, which were now secured in one hand, while the other was clenched into a fist as he constantly pounded into the Behemoth's head over and over again in rapid succession.

From where she was standing, Fang found herself unsure if she should rush over and help or if she should stay out of the way, because with how brutally Spider-Man was fighting, she was worried she might get in his way or end up hurt if she were not careful. Another minute of thought made her decide that she was better off doing something to help Lightning, so she quickly rushed over to start trying to rouse the ex-soldier while applying whatever healing magic she could to help the headache that Lightning probably had after colliding with the wall like she had. When Lightning finally started coming around, both ladies were soon turning their attention back to the fight, only to see that Spider-Man had switched from beating in the Behemoth's head to striking some powerful blows into its spine, making it stumble and fall to its face just as the web-head had relinquished his hold on the web-lines that were tied around the beast to leap high into the air. When he came down again, he landed feet-first on the Behemoth's head, _hard_ , and like that, the monster was out cold with very little chance of getting up again anytime soon if at all, leaving Lightning and Fang both in silent awe at the sheer power behind such a brutal strike, never mind where that brutality had come from.

Spider-Man must have noticed the two ladies' stares, because he easily flipped off of the monster's head a couple seconds later and slowly walked over to the two, almost as if he were afraid of what they would say after seeing him fight like he had. When he did reach them, Fang had to ask, "Think you've gotten that out of your system?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm good," Spider-Man panted.

"Thought you didn't kill," Lightning pointed out.

"Well this thing isn't exactly human, and besides that, I may not like killing, but I do understand that sometimes it is necessary. I'm just lucky enough that I've hardly ever had to kill my enemies, personally," Spider-Man shrugged. He then moved over to kneel down next to Lightning while Fang stood up straight to try and get in touch with Snow again, and asked, "What about you? Are you okay? You got hit pretty hard just now."

"I'm fine," Lightning brushed off though she was touched by his concern if the fact her cheeks had gained a slightly pink tinge was any indication. She just had to hope that he would think it was a trick of the light from the sunset or something that was more due to exhaustion, considering she was actually feeling a bit tired just now.

It turned out to be the latter case, as Spider-Man quickly helped move her to a seat on the nearby stairs and said, "Well either way, you should take it easy for a little bit. Not only would that kind of injury be a problem in the future, but all that spell casting can't have been very good for your stamina."

"Right," Lightning nodded in thanks as she leaned back a little to relax a bit better. When Spider-Man suddenly sat down next to her, she was tempted to rest her head on his shoulder, but she quickly dismissed that thought even as her blush grew a little bit. Not only would that make her seem like anything other than the independent woman she tried to be, but there was also no telling how Peter would react if she did that, so she made sure to keep the idea in her head. Even if it was a very tempting idea, especially with him just sitting right next to her, one that only grew stronger when he gently wrapped an arm around her all of a sudden, which only made her relax a little more for some odd reason.

The moment was soon interrupted though when Fang groaned out, "Damn thing's still jammed." The spear-woman then flipped the phone shut and sighed, "Eh, he can take care of himself."

Knowing that she was referring to Snow, Peter could not help but take a chance to poke some fun at the guy and said, "Knowing him, it might be more accurate to say that Hope's taking care of _him_ , since he's too busy rushing in recklessly."

"You might be right about that, but I don't think you should talk when it comes to being reckless," Fang commented.

"Uh, excuse me? How am I reckless?"

"Oh I don't know. I'm sure _everyone_ would just throw themselves at a Lodestar Behemoth that was in its second form with no weapons other than goop-shooters and their bare hands before riding it like a wild, untamed, bucking chocobo."

"First off, they're _web_ -shooters, not goop-shooters. Second, you're not one to talk about crazy, reckless actions. You're the one who wanted to smash a fal'Cie just so you could get one set of memories back."

"Hey, it made sense at the time, and I was feeling really desperate."

As she watched the two banter back and forth like this, Lightning found she was unable to stop a scowl from forming on her face while an uneasy, ugly feeling took form in the pit of her stomach. Spider-Man seemed to have become quite chummy with Fang for someone who had been interrogating her for answers just a short while ago, and it also appeared as though he were enjoying it a little too much from her perspective. More than that, Fang had a bit of an odd smirk on her face for every quip she threw out at him that Lightning just wanted to tear off for some reason. The real kicker was how easily they were doing so, and with how little venom, like they were just two best pals messing around with one another. Lightning did not know what she was feeling at the sight of this or why she was feeling something soon unsettling at all, but she did know that she wanted to make it stop, and she knew of only one way to do so.

"Hey, Fang," Lightning cut in as she pulled herself out of Spidey's hold, getting a hum from the person she was addressing and a hidden, furrowed brow from the web-head. "The others are safe, right? If any of us got caught, they'd make an announcement."

"Maybe for you two and the others, but me, I doubt they would make a big deal about," Spider-Man pointed out.

"I wouldn't be so sure," Fang dismissed. "We may know that you're not a l'Cie, but to everyone else, that idea's still up in the air. Either way, yeah, they would make an announcement. They'd have to let everyone know that the big, bad l'Cie can't hurt 'em no more. These Cocoon people…bunch of cowards and blowhards."

"Ahem. You do remember that Lightning's standing right there, right," Spidey reminded the Pulsian, indicating the rosette when he did.

Said rosette was just scowling once again, not over Fang's remark, but more over how it seemed like Spidey and Fang were falling back into their banter battle not two seconds after she had cut in, and she was not going to have that. "'These Cocoon people' have spent centuries under fal'Cie law, in constant fear of a Pulse invasion," Lightning sharply reminded both of the other two. She then lowered her head in shame as she added, "If it weren't for Serah, I'd have been out there too. Hunting l'Cie. Would've been nothing but targets to me."

"Somehow I doubt that," Spider-Man argued, surprising Lightning a little. "If you really were on the other side of this, then would you really still be going through with it if you saw that one of the l'Cie you were hunting was just a kid like Hope, or really just anyone who looked human at least?"

Lightning was not sure how to answer that, and that seemed to be something that happened to her a lot recently. Everything she had learned in such a short amount of time since she became a l'Cie was making her head spin with questions, concerns, and a thousand other things. Still, the fact that Spidey seemed to have enough faith in her to think that she would not have just kept following orders and gunning down l'Cie like they were just another bunch of targets if she eventually met one who was like Hope like that did help ease her worries a little bit, but not by that much. It took a few words from Fang to draw her out of the storm in her mind.

"Well to be fair, Gran Pulse is actually just as twisted as this place," Fang revealed. She then looked up in thought as she recalled, "'Cocoon's a floating nest of vipers, ready to strike.' Or so I thought."

"So you became a l'Cie to fight the 'vipers,' and destroying the nest is your…I mean _our_ Focus now," Lightning filled in.

"I'd like to point out once again that we don't know that for sure," Spider-Man reminded Lightning. "There is still a chance that Snow's right in saying that we're supposed to save Cocoon from Ragnarok or something. Maybe the idea doesn't have a lot of ground to go off of, seeing as the only thing supporting it is Serah's last words before she turned to crystal and what that fal'Cie said to me when it tried and failed to turn me into a l'Cie, but it is still a possibility."

"Wish I were as optimistic or naïve as you are, Bug-boy," Fang remarked as she stood up and looked out to the horizon with Lightning, not knowing that Spidey was giving her a flat look in response as she did. Even if she did know, that did not stop her from saying what she felt like she had to say. "Until we woke up here, we'd been in crystal stasis. Which means, we must've completed our first Focus."

"But you can't remember anything about it," Spider-Man filled in.

"Nope," Fang groaned in annoyance, though it was more due to the fact Spidey had mentioned than it was due to being reminded of it. "Why can't I remember that part, though? My childhood's clear as day, but the one thing I need…it's just gone. Blank. Like an empty page. I reach for the memory, and nothing's there. Then there's my brand. It's all messed up. Vanille and me, we lost our past and our Focus."

"And now, you want to find them," Lightning asked. "Be a Pulse l'Cie? An enemy of Cocoon?"

"I'm with Lightning. Are you sure that's what you want? I mean, maybe the change to your brand is a sign that Vanille was probably right when she said that you didn't need your Focus anymore," Spidey suggested. "I mean, what if you did do your job right and you were just released so that you could live out your lives without any worry from what being a l'Cie might bring…You know, aside from the obvious fact that everyone here hates l'Cie and all?"

"Seriously, how are you able to look at things like that so easily," Fang asked.

"When you've lived my kind of life, you tend to learn how to take a 'glass-half-full' kind of perspective whenever you can. That or you just learn how to blame yourself for just about everything that goes bad," Spider-Man shrugged.

Fang did not know how to respond to that, aside from a small smirk that quickly washed away as she answered the earlier question. "It doesn't matter either way. Pulse and Cocoon can rot for all I care. If I don't figure out our Focus soon, Vanille's gonna be a Cie'th. I'll tear down the sky if it'll save her."

Both Lightning and Peter could hear the raw passion in Fang's voice as she had spoken about how far she would go for Vanille, and they knew that it was the same kind that one would use when speaking of what they would do for family. They recognized it because it was a feeling that they both knew quite well. For Lightning, it was the same with her in regards to Serah, while for Peter, it made him think back to both his aunt and to his late clone/brother, Ben Riley, and his living one, Kaine. Peter could still remember the day when he heard about how Ben was dying due to some sort of cellular degeneration that turned out to be a side-effect from how he was created, a side-effect that was also affecting Kaine at a much more rapid rate, and how he had scrambled to do everything he could to find a way to cure them both. He may have succeeded in the end, but he still hated how there was nothing he could do to save Ben from dying a hero's death not long afterwards. Still, neither he or Lightning had much of a place to criticize Fang for her actions, unless they wanted to be called a pair of hypocrites, but that did not mean that her intentions and plans did not leave them feeling a little worried.

True, they did respect and admire Fang for her dedication to Vanille and making sure that the girl did not turn into a monster, but the methods she had used so far to keep that from happening were rather questionable. The prime example being that she encouraged the idea for the two to try to smashing the fal'Cie that was providing power to the cities of Cocoon just so they could jog their memories, and there was also the fact that she had ended up allying herself with an organization she knew almost nothing about just to track down where Vanille had run off to after they got separated. Sure, those could be described as the actions of someone who was desperate, and Fang was clearly looking for any way she could get her hands on to keep Vanille from turning into a Cie'th, but from what they could tell, Fang was not one to let desperation or many of her other emotions to get the best of her when something so important was at stake. That self-assurance may have been admirable at times, but in a matter like that it was definitely something to be worried about.

They were soon pulled out of their musings a few blocks later when Fang suddenly paused again and called back, "Hey, Lightning. Spider-Man."

"Call me Light," the ex-soldier told the Pulsian in response, feeling that Fang had earned the privilege at this point.

"And you can just call me Spidey," Peter quickly added on, showing that she had his attention as well.

"Did either of you see Vanille's brand," Fang questioned, smiling a little at the fact she was now on friendlier terms with the two.

"No," Lightning admitted.

"The minute I realized where she was going to indicate that it was, I made a point to look away," Spidey informed Fang.

While the answers the two gave were disheartening for Fang, the latter one gave her an opening she simply could not pass up. "Oh really? You saying you weren't a little tempted to let your eyes be graced with the view?"

"Hey, whoa! First off, I was raised to be respectful to women, and second of all, she's a bit too young for me, in case you hadn't noticed, crystal stasis or no," Spider-Man immediately protested.

"Funny. That didn't sound like a no," Fang said in a sing-song voice.

Spidey was instantly sputtering and stuttering any excuses that he could bring to mind, only to stop short when he realized, "You're enjoying this, aren't you?"

"A little bit, yeah. It's always fun to see someone so sure of himself getting as flustered as a nervous school girl," Fang admitted. "Although, it would probably be even funnier if I could see the look on your face."

"Huh, nice try, but you're gonna have to do a lot more than that to get a look at the face under this mask," Spider-Man easily quipped, his confidence now returned.

"Now that sounds like a challenge. Besides, why hide behind the mask at all? You horribly scarred or disfigured under there or something?"

"Well I wouldn't go so far as to say 'horribly'…"

"Was there a point to your earlier question," Lightning interrupted, her tone quite irritated one might note.

Fang had to smirk a little more at Light's intrusion, knowing just what that particular rise from her could mean, and her expression stayed that way even as she turned to face the two in order to answer Lightning's question. "Want to know how long until it's Cie'th city? Just look at your brand," she explained. When the two shot her looks that inquired for more, she added, "You start getting more arrows, and then finally an eye. Once it opens all the way, you're done. Let's have a look."

That threw the two a little bit until Lightning suddenly found herself turned towards Fang while the spear-woman started to unzip her turtleneck to the point where her brand was visible, much to her embarrassment. She barely even registered when Fang told her not to be shy, as she was more preoccupied with how Peter was reacting. When she saw that he had looked away while blocking his view with one hand, she could not help but let out a silent, discreet sigh of relief, and it became a bit more noticeable when Fang reported, "Nowhere near. You got time." The spear-woman then glanced over to Spidey again and smirked as she added, "Wow, you really are the type to go and do something like that."

"Again, raised to be a gentleman," Spidey reminded her.

"Well cut it out. It's kinda creepy to actually meet one in this place." Fang's teasing was halted once again when Lightning let out a small cough after zipping her turtleneck up again, and Fang immediately returned to the main topic of their current conversation. "Well, even if it does seem like you've got time, you still never know. Some people, doesn't take so long. You get a nasty shock, it can speed up the process."

That news immediately made Spider-Man think back to the moment when Odin first appeared before them in the Vile Peaks, and a small exchange of glances with the woman in question instantly told him that Lightning had the same thought. It was no surprise really; Lightning's outburst and their confrontation with the Eidolon would leave even the most stoic person shocked to some degree, and Hope did mention that Lightning's brand had changed a bit afterwards, so that served as plenty of confirmation to what Fang was telling them. Still, they had to wonder why she was telling them this now, at least until they heard her speak up again. "Vanille's brand must be pretty far along by now."

"I don't know about that. From what I've seen, despite the appearance that she tends to give off, Vanille does seem like a tough nut to really crack easily," Spider-Man reassured Fang. It probably would have helped if he was more than half sure of his words though.

Fang must have picked up on his hesitance, because she did not seem to relax at all, and yet still showed quite a bit of confidence when she declared, "Either way, I've got to save her and get her home."

"To Pulse, you mean," Lightning asked.

"To _Gran_ Pulse," Fang corrected. "I hear that the Sanctum prevents people from leaving Cocoon. I'd like to see 'em try and stop me."

"Well so long as your plan doesn't involve killing anyone or easily buying into what people say about the Purge like Vanille did, I don't think I'll have too much of problem there," Spider-Man told her with an underlying warning tone. One that Fang could only smirk in reply to, at least until Lightning spoke up in her defense.

"At least she has a plan, unlike me," the ex-soldier said, much to the other two's surprise. "Without Serah, without a future, there's nothing to plan for. There's no way out of this mess, and no way to fight it. I'm stuck trading blows with the Sanctum, but that's no plan. Even if we were to show that people don't have any reason to fear us, or finally abolish the fear of Pulse, where's that leave us? With nothing to fight for…I might as well be dead."

"Whoa, whoa, time out! Don't you dare go and start saying stuff like that," Spider-Man interjected, startling Lightning with how panicked he sounded. You could not really blame him though, because from where he was standing, Lightning's words were sounding very suicidal; far more so than anything she had said before now since this whole mess started, and he was not about to let her go down that kind of path. "You've got plenty to fight for, Light, and there are people who are still counting on you to stay alive, not because they need you to protect them, but because you're their friend. You're _my_ friend, and I'm not going to let you give up on anything like that."

"And let's not forget your sister," Fang added, drawing all attention to her. "Spidey's right. You've got plenty to fight for, Light. Think about it. Don't you want to see Serah, after she wakes up?" She did not need to wait for an answer, because Lightning's silence and the look in her eyes was answer enough. "That's your future right there. All you've gotta do is survive. It's simple!"

"Right," Lightning drawled, sarcasm clearly evident.

"Hey, she said it was simple, not easy," Spidey pointed out. "Besides, if anyone doesn't have much of a future to fight for it's me." That got the two women's attention, as they did not expect him to say something like that. "Sure, I've got a reason to fight now: keeping you and the others safe, but after this is over, then what? I go around chasing muggers and other low-class criminals like nothing ever happened and like I've always lived here? I've got no way home, and no one to go home to even if I did and wanted to go. Aunt May isn't going to be coming back like Serah, and let's face facts. If it weren't for my whole 'great power and great responsibility' shtick, or the fact that we're friends, I probably wouldn't have stuck around with you guys for so long now. When this is over, and it will end well for everyone if I have any say in the manner, I'm not going to have anything worth fighting for."

That surprised Lightning, and yet at the same time, she felt a bit ashamed as well. She had spent so much time thinking about herself after the revelations that she had been having lately, she had not once stopped to consider how this was going to affect Peter in the long-run. Sure, she knew that he was probably pretty messed up after learning what he did about his aunt and in regards to how much time had passed back in his universe since he had been gone, and she had done her best to help him with that, but she still should have realized that he would be worried about something like that before now. Before Madame Web had appeared before them, he had been looking for a way to get back home and helping out in Bodhum simply because he was able to make a difference while he was there. Now though, who knew if he was even going to feel like he could keep being Spider-Man or even just keep going in his life, period? The idea of losing Peter in anyway honestly frightened Lightning in a way that she did not think was still possible for her, even if she did not openly show it. She wanted to reach out, hold him tightly, and beg him to not talk or even think like that. She wanted to tell him that he had just as much to fight and live for as she did. She wanted to do so much in order to make him stop thinking like that, but at the same time she had no idea why she would want to do all of that. Well, she had one idea, but that was still one she was denying as much as she could, given how it had proven to be so much of a distraction to her already. All the same, in the end, she ended up doing nothing more than staring at Peter in disbelief, worry, and a bit of panic, wanting to do something but unsure of what.

Thankfully, Fang had an idea on what to do and thus came to Lightning's rescue, though the rosette was not entirely thankful for it. "You kidding me? From what I've seen, you've got plenty to fight for," the spear-woman told Spider-Man. "Not just because you've actually saved quite a few people here already, if rumors are to be believed, but I could just tell that you care a great deal about Light and the others, and they seem to care about you, too. You've got friends here. They're part of your future. Besides, Snow told me you didn't give up so easily, so why should you start now?"

It was clear that Fang had given him a lot to think about, but all the same, the two women knew that he was giving her a thankful smile for her words. Lightning may not have liked the fact that Fang was the one who had ultimately cheered Peter up, but she was still glad that he seemed to be doing a little better now. It did not mean that she was going to be okay with how friendly Fang and Spidey seemed to have become in such a short amount of time, and in an attempt to not deal with that, she decided to press on, thinking the two would follow after her when they saw her moving. She did not get very far, because they all ended up freezing in their tracks when they suddenly heard a beeping sound from close by. While Fang and Lightning both tensed up a little at the noise, Peter immediately raised one of his web-shooters to eye-level and hit a control on it that immediately generated a small, three-dimensional holo-map on their surrounding area, which displayed two distinct markers: one of which appeared to be his mask inside of a circle, which was in the center of the map, while the other was a red, upside-down triangle. It looked odd to the other two, but to Peter, it looked like good news.

"Finally! I'm picking up a signal from the tracker I gave Hope," Spidey cheered, drawing sighs of relief from Lightning and Fang as they stood down from their battle-ready states. They did not stay relaxed for long though, as they soon heard fast-approaching jets from overhead, and then looked up just in time to see a number of PSICOM aerial forces whooshing past, all in the same direction.

"Spidey, please tell me that they're not heading where I think they are," Lightning lightly begged.

"I wish I could," Peter replied. "The signal from Hope's Spider-Tracer is definitely coming from the exact same direction that those guys were just heading in."

"They've found 'em," Fang exclaimed in a slight panic, and to make matters worse, they were soon greeted with the sound and sight of an explosion off in the distance. They had little reason to think that it had been on an area where Snow and Hope were, but given what they had just seen, there was little other reason that they could think of for such an explosion other than PSICOM attempting to attack the two.

That was reason enough for Lightning to turn to Peter and immediately demand, "Spidey, you need to get us there, now!"

Spider-Man looked at her for a minute before he asked, "Why Lightning, are you asking me to get us there via the Spidey-Express?"

As much as she wanted to say no, she knew that it would be the fastest way there. It did not mean that she was going to kid herself into thinking that Peter would not be teasing her about how this was her idea instead of his later, but somehow, she still managed to swallow her pride, step closer to him, and say, "Yes, now start web-swinging."

"Ma'am, yes ma'am," Spider-Man jokingly saluted before scooping Lightning up into one arm while gesturing for Fang to get up on his back. Once the spear-woman had done so and secured her arms around him, Spidey said, "In case of emergencies, exits are located pretty much everywhere and anywhere. Please keep a secure hold on your friendly neighborhood superhero at all times, and no flash-photography or throwing up. Any questions before lift-off?"

"Yeah, are we going to go anytime soon, or are you just stalling until you've managed to cop a feel on Light," Fang asked, smirking a little when she saw how the ex-soldier's face lit up at the end.

Spider-Man just glanced over his shoulder at her for a minute before saying, "You know I can very easily drop you on the way there, right?"

"But we all know you won't," Fang teased.

Spider-Man said nothing in response, and instead just elected to swing the three of them into the air, getting them on the fast, web-swinging track to Snow and Hope's location as fast as he could. All the same, he still ended up thinking, _'Nobody would know. Nobody. Well, Lightning would know, but she wouldn't say anything if asked not to, right?'_

* * *

Hope was not sure how long he had been out, but it had to have been at least an hour or so since he and Snow were blasted off the terrace. At least if the slight sunlight he was feeling on his face was any indication, then it was probably still somewhere close to the middle or final stages of twilight, but what he was really confused about was why he was able to feel so much of the sunlight right now in the first place. He was sure that he and Snow had landed in an alleyway that was covered by a great deal of shadows, so he should not be feeling any sunlight right now. More to the point, he felt like he was resting against something soft, or at least something that was softer than the hard ground, while something obviously had a firm grasp beneath his legs, as if to hold him in place, and he quickly assumed that meant that someone was probably carrying him somewhere. That alone was enough to stir him back to consciousness a little more quickly, but the explosions that he heard that sounded distant yet still close to where he was did help get him the rest of the way. He was more than ready to start struggling out of the person's grasp and fight them when he realized who the individual holding him up was.

"Hey. You okay," Snow grunted in greeting when he saw that Hope was awake. Snow had woken up sometime before the kid had, and then carried Hope back up to where they were before so that they could resume their trip to Hope's house, and from what the kid could see of his expression, it had not been an easy feat, because Snow looked exhausted.

Hope was confused as to Snow's current state of tiredness, but he brushed if off long enough to answer the blonde's question and said, "Yeah, I think so."

Snow nodded before Hope could say anymore, and then held up his hand to Hope, allowing the boy to see he was holding the knife he had been given. "That's Light's, isn't it," Snow asked once Hope had taken it back.

"How'd you…" Hope started to ask.

"That knife was a present from Serah, to keep her safe. She trusted you with something that important then you should be the one to carry it," Snow explained as he started to slowly move forward, while Hope pocketed the knife, though it was not without a somewhat noticeable limp.

"You're hurt," Hope exclaimed.

"It's nothing," Snow tried to reassure him, only to fail when he got past a small flight of stairs and collapsed in the middle of a courtyard, much to Hope's concern. Snow immediately started pulling himself up again though, grunting and groaning about how he had to keep going while he did, only to end up using a lamppost for support so that he could stand up straight while clutching his side. When he was standing again, he looked to Hope and chuckled at the sight of the kid standing up all on his own, looking no worse for wear. "Look at that. All that effort and you don't even need any help."

"But you clearly do," Hope stated as he moved to try and help Snow. He was not sure what he could do, seeing as there was no way he was strong enough to support Snow's weight on his own, but he had to do something.

"Relax. Just let me…catch my breath," Snow waved off, but his reassuring look soon turned panic when he saw something approaching in the distance, and closing fast. When it finally got close enough to get a good look, it landed right in front of them, allowing them to get a good look at it. At first glance, Snow thought it was an Ushumgal Subjugator, but there were various different lines of circuitry and armaments on it that made him think otherwise. For starters, its shoulders seemed to house some type of cannons on them, while the wings appeared to have been augmented with a sleek metal that seemed to be razor sharp. Its legs also seemed as though they could now split in half for some odd reason, but the most terrifying difference was how it had a set of six, metal tentacles that ended in sharp pincer claws extending out from the middle area of its body, with three on either side. Whatever this thing really was though did not matter to Snow at the moment. All he knew was that it was a monster that PSICOM had sent to kill him and Hope, and the blonde was not going to let that happen.

Unfortunately, Snow was not going to be able to do anything to stop this beast, because the minute he told Hope to get back, the beast slammed one of its large wings into him, and sent him flying into the nearby wall, where he fell unconscious. The worst part was that when Snow did get hit, Hope was sure that he heard a sickening crack that could only mean that something was now definitely broken if it had not been already. Seeing what had happened because of Snow's actions, Hope narrowed his eyes at both the self-proclaimed hero and the monster that had hurt him, and shouted, "Always the hero. You want to die? You can't. I won't let you!"

What happened next would have surprised Hope a while back, seeing as he would not have thought he would ever do anything to help Snow at that time, but after everything that had happened now, and how they had reconciled just recently, Hope felt that it was only natural that he would rush forward, boomerang ready, and start fighting this massive beast in defensive of the unconscious Snow. Maybe some of the blonde's recklessness was rubbing off on him, because Hope knew full well that he probably stood little chance against a monster like this on his own, but he was not going to just sit back and watch so that Snow could be left to die if he could do something about it. He was just glad that he had his l'Cie magic, because otherwise, he was sure that he would likely have been a goner just seconds after stepping up to face this thing.

One of the first things that Hope did was use a Libra spell to get some information on this monster, but he was surprised to find that, despite the changes, the spell still identified this thing as an Ushumgal Subjugator. Hope had seen such monsters in books before, and he could not ever remember one looking like this, be it the untamed version or otherwise. He did not think about that matter for too long, as he was quickly forced to dodge a few blasts of energy from the beast, which were quickly followed by a blast of powerful shockwaves from the cannons on its shoulders. Hope quickly slapped on the web-shooter than Spider-Man had given him, and aimed it towards the cannons, thinking he might be able to keep them from firing if they were clogged with webs, but he was soon slapped aside by one of the six tentacles just as he was about to fire. He saved himself from being hit by another pair of tentacles by using his boomerang to block the attacks, and then rolled to his feet once again as he threw a pair of Fira spells at the monster. When the fiery blasts hit the beast, Hope had to smirk a little, thinking that he must have dealt some serious damage that time, but when the smoke cleared, he was shocked to see that there was not even the slightest scratch on it. Sure, there were some points on the Subjugator's armor to indicate that it had been blasted by fire, but those areas were merely blackened by soot than anything else, proving that it had quite the resilient armor. After throwing every offensive spell he had at the monster, Hope was able to realize that the same held true for every type of elemental blast it was met with.

To make matters worse, the beast easily showed off a few more of its special offensive capabilities by swinging one of its wings in a wide arc, and releasing a series of large, sharp talons, like the ones that he and Snow had encountered earlier on, and said talons easily sliced through the wall behind Hope like butter, much to his horror. Seeing such a deadly attack prompted Hope to cast as many defensive spells as he knew on himself, just to make sure that if he did get hit, it would not lead him to suffer too serious an injury, but he was still not sure if it would do him that much good. He then went to work doing whatever he could to slow it down, be it with magic, with his boomerang, or with a few web-blasts every now and then, but if Hope was doing any damage, it was obviously not enough, and it certainly did not show at all. Eventually, his rush to stay ahead of the beast came to an end, as it split one of its front legs in two, and used the front half of said leg to knock him onto his back, where he dropped down, too exhausted to really stand on his own at this point.

Hope was sure that this was it as the monster slowly drew closer and closer to him, its split leg now fusing back into one again while the cannons on its shoulders prepared to fire at as close a range to Hope as it could manage, until suddenly, a barrage of Impact-Webbing suddenly exploded on the Subjugator, coating most of its legs and the joints in its wings in the adhesive substance. A moment later, Spider-Man suddenly swung over both Hope and the monster he was fighting, and snagged the Subjugator with a web-line so that he could slowly pull it away from the young man it was just targeting. The monster did not move very much for a moment, but when Hope gave a little push by throwing a Fire spell out, it slid back quite a bit more. It was at that moment that Fang and Lightning came running onto the scene, just in time to see Spider-Man release his web-line and slide under the monster before it could crush him beneath its massive form.

"Sorry to keep you waiting, Hope. Traffic was terrible," Spidey joked as he came out of his slide next to the kid in a crouch, his eyes focused entirely on the monster that Hope had been fighting.

"Not a bad job though, kid," Fang complimented as she spun her spear out for battle.

"Where's Snow," Lightning asked.

"He's okay," Hope replied, nodding to where Snow was lying with his head.

When Lightning saw where the blonde was laying, clearly alive but in no shape to fight, she nodded to Hope and reached for her gunblade, ready to enter the fight. "Sure you're up to this? This isn't like any of the others of its kind, so it could be the Doc's beast," Fang asked, wanting to make sure that Lightning was ready after what had just happened.

"Thing will never know what hit it," Lightning confidently replied as she spun her gunblade into sword mode with a simple flourish of movement.

"Somehow, I get the feeling that it might," Spider-Man said, and before anyone could say anything, the web-swinger stood up straight and moved to stand right in front of the others, just as the beast was preparing to attack them again. Despite the clear danger, Spidey did not move a muscle. Instead, he just stared it down, until he finally shouted out, "Hey, if you can hear me through this thing, then I've got something to tell ya, so listen up. To be quite frank, I'm really disappointed. Picking on kids? I thought for sure you of all people had higher standards than that, and don't even get me started on how bad a job your doing at concealing your identity. I mean come on! Everyone knows that if you want to keep a secret identity, you shouldn't sign your work, but then again, you never could resist a chance to boast about your genius…Doctor Octopus!"

The minute that Spider-Man had uttered that name, the beast seemed to freeze in its tracks, its weapons powering down while any attacks it was preparing to throw were completely halted. That alone confirmed that its controller could hear Spidey, and he was fully intent on continuing with his prodding. "Well hey, look at that! You can hear me. Surprised to see that someone here knows who you are, or are you surprised that someone other than the PSICOM higher-ups know you? I mean, there's no way you would be surprised that I still remember who you are given our long history, right, Otto Octavius? Or do you prefer just Doc like all the other guys in PSICOM are supposedly calling you?"

Eventually, Spider-Man got a response, much to everyone's surprise. You could not blame them though, because not one of the Cocoon citizens had ever heard of someone being able to send an audio transmission through a monster before, and yet, now it was happening right before their eyes and ears. _"Arachnid,"_ a voice snarled through whatever transmitter was on this modified Subjugator, proving that the individual did indeed know Spider-Man. _"So you survived our little trip through the nexus of reality as well. At this point I feel it would be a waste to be surprised by your resilience and continued interference in my work, Spider-Man, and yet, I must admit, that I am surprised that you now stand before me again."_

"Well technically, I'd only be standing before you if we were face-to-face, Otto, but beyond that, the feeling is mutual. I know I definitely wasn't expecting to see you again, though it does not come as a surprise that you're still on the wrong side of things," Spider-Man retorted.

 _"I would say the same of you, Spider-Man. I had long since thought that you cared about others, so I had a hard time grasping the concept that anyone bearing your moniker would ally with such dangerous threats as these Pulse l'Cie. Yet here you are, aiding such threats while forsaking the rest of this world. If anyone is on the wrong side here, it is you."_

That earned the monster a disbelieving look that was clear as day even though it was hidden behind Spider-Man's mask. "I'm sorry, I must've heard wrong. I could've sworn that I just heard Doc Ock say that he was actually buying the crap that the Sanctum was selling about Pulse and its l'Cie."

 _"The recent Purge is proof of the threat that Pulse possess to this society, and I intend to right the many wrongs of my past by doing what I can for the people of Cocoon. I had thought that you would see reason and assist me in this Spider-Man. After all, I am trying to follow your example and do things for a greater good."_

"Oh my god. You're actually serious," Spider-Man gasped. "Doc, I _know_ you're smarter than this, so how can you honestly believe something so stupid without question? Have you not been watching what PSICOM has been doing here? Did you seriously not see the fact that you were just trying to kill a kid who was only defending himself and his friend? Look at these guys! They are all citizens of Cocoon, but because they were made l'Cie, everyone's decided that they're monsters because of old superstitions and propaganda that the Sanctum has done nothing but feed for years!"

"Uh, I'm not from Cocoon," Fang pointed out.

"Fang, that's not helping, so please shut it," Spider-Man informed the spear-woman, his tone showing no room for argument.

 _"From my standpoint, it seems more likely that you have been tainted by Pulse as well, Spider-Man, and as a result, you too, must be eliminated. You may find this hard to believe, but I do wish it had not come to this,"_ Doc Ock said through his monster, which was now gearing up for a fight again.

"Well look at that. You've finally said something that's actually right. I do find it hard to believe. I know you just want an excuse to prove that you're superior to me again, so do us both a favor and don't try to hide it with some so-called 'noble cause,'" Spider-Man retorted, dropping down into his own battle stance, which prompted the others to resume their own battle stances as well.

Just like that, a spectacular battle had begun between the massive monster and its four targets, only this time there was no mistaking how it was being controlled by someone who had a very thorough and tactical mind, and it was one that was giving most of them quite the runaround. Thankfully, Spider-Man had been fighting the mastermind behind this beast for several years of his life, so he was able to make very decent predictions as to how the monster would attack them, and he was also able to pick up on some weak points in the Subjugator's augmentations. As such, Fang was directed towards the joints in the wings, while Lightning focused a lot of attention and ice-based magic on the tentacles in an attempt to disable or slow said appendages down. Hope was left to support the team with healing and protection spells for the most part, but he also made sure to lend a few blasts of webbing to Spidey when he could, and it was a good thing he did, because Peter really needed it at the moment, given that he was doing a little bit of everything. He spinning, swinging, flipping, and running all around the monster in an attempt to do whatever he could to keep it from harming any of his friends, and every time he spotted a chance to shut down any part of it, he took it with gusto. The only downside was that he had put quite a bit of strength behind every blow he made against this thing, because it seemed that Octavius had given it augmented armor like the kind that his old foe Rhino wore. He was just glad that was not the case for the entire body of the monster, and he was still able to take advantage of the weaknesses and drawbacks of every piece of tech that Ock had added to this beast.

That remained to be the case for quite a bit of the fight, especially in regards to what he had dubbed the Shocker Cannons, because he and Hope spent a good deal of the fight webbing those up to the point where they would get jammed and send an electric feedback into the monster, which left it vulnerable to Lightning and Fang's attacks, until he made a small error that cost him quite a bit. Despite the warning from his Spider-Sense, Peter was not able to react fast enough to the tentacle that was being swung his way, and ended up being swatted aside as a result. Luckily he was not too seriously hurt, but one of his web-shooters was not so lucky. The impact from the blow must have been too much for it to take, or perhaps Octavius had been hoping to hit it when he attacked him, but either way it did not matter, because now, one of his trusted wrist devices was seriously damaged, and he doubted that he would be able to stop and fix it without the proper tools, let alone in the middle of a battle. Realizing this, Peter's hand instantly reached for his belt, only to be reminded that he had given away his only spare web-shooters to Hope and Snow when he felt nothing in the area his hand went for. Any other time, Spidey would think that he could handle with just one web-shooter, but in this situation, he was not so sure. That did not stop him though, as he was soon back getting back into things, even if it was with a handicap.

Spider-Man's inability to use both web-shooters did not go unnoticed by any of the others, but out of all three of them, only Hope was able to think of an idea on how to remedy things. He knew that he could just toss the web-shooter he was using to Peter, but there was no telling how much of its web-fluid he had used by this point, so for all he knew, he would be giving Peter a replacement that was nearly empty. Thankfully, he knew where he could get another web-shooter from, hence the reason why he shouted for Fang and Lightning to help Spider-Man and keep the monster's attention off him for a little while. When the two nodded in response, Hope quickly scrambled over to where Snow was lying and immediately started searching the blonde's pockets until he finally found what he was looking for: the spare web-shooter that Spidey had given Snow way back at Lake Bresha, and from what Hope could tell, it did not seem like Snow had really used it at all. At another point in time, one would probably have scolded Snow for not using such a useful tool, but Hope was just glad that Snow still had it on him at all, and he immediately jumped up to run back over to the fight.

"Spidey! Catch," Hope shouted once he was close enough, getting Peter's attention just in time to see the silver haired boy throw the wrist device over to him. Upon seeing what Hope had thrown towards him, Spider-Man instantly leapt for the web-shooter, moving the damaged one from his wrist to his belt while in mid-air, and he easily caught it just seconds before he landed on the ground again, where he slapped the fresh one onto his wrist.

The device easily locked into place just in time for Spider-Man to spin around and fire out a flurry of webs that saved Lightning from being hit by one of the Subjugator's tentacles, while simultaneously clogging up the Shocker Cannons once more and saving Fang from getting blasted by them, and the three instantly sprung forward to throw an all-out assault at their foe. Spider-Man started off with a few quick jabs and kicks before launching himself into the air, allowing Lightning to come in, gunblade swinging in vicious, powerful arcs that sent the beast stumbling right into Fang's flurry of jabs and bashes, easily destroying one of its legs. Another leg soon went afterwards, thanks to a well-placed combination of spells from Hope, coupled by a particularly powerful toss of his boomerang, and the beast was soon pinned down on the ground again, when Spider-Man suddenly used a pair of web-lines to catapult himself down into it feet first, crashing it into the ground with a powerful boom when he did. Spider-Man then leapt clear of the monster with a tremendous back flip through the air, and the others immediately unleashed their most powerful spells on the monster, finishing it off entirely until there was nothing left.

Seeing that the fight was over, everyone breathed sighs of relief, some panting in exhaustion, and Hope took the chance to approach Spider-Man and Lightning both. The first thing he did was remove his borrowed web-shooter from his wrist so that he could hand it back to Spidey, and he then pulled out Lightning's knife to hand it back to her. When the two had their respective tools in hand, they looked to Hope with questioning gazes, asking why he was giving these back now, and Hope could only smile as he reported, "Operation Nora turned out to be a huge success after all."

Hearing that immediately clued them both in as to why Hope was giving his borrowed items back to their rightful owners, and Peter had to smile a little at the fact that the kid had found his answer at last, along with the fact that it turned out to be the right one. Lightning was also happy to hear this news, but it was clear from the expression on her face that she was more worried about what had happened to Hope before she and the others had arrived. Hearing that news did give her some relief for many different reasons, but that did not stop her from enveloping Hope in a tight hug, much to nearly everyone's surprise, and whispering to him, "You'll be okay. We'll keep you safe."

"Lightning," Hope gasped. "I…Me too. I mean, at least I'll try. I'll try to watch out for you, too."

Lightning then stepped back and stared at the boy for a minute before she let out a small, teasing smile and jabbed him in the forehead, earning an amused chuckle from Hope. "Hey, what about me, Hope? Don't I get some guarantee of protection," Spider-Man playfully whined, cutting into the moment.

"I would, but somehow, I don't think I'd be able to keep that promise. You get yourself into some pretty crazy trouble," Hope teased.

"You say that like I go looking for it or something," Spider-Man retorted as he ruffled the kid's hair, much to both Hope and Lightning's amusement, even as the former tried batting his hand away.

"Don't forget about this one," Fang called out, drawing everyone's attention to her and the unconscious Snow.

"That one will be all right," Lightning scoffed in reply. She then moved over to swing one of Snow's arms over her shoulder so that she could lift him up to his feet, and smiled a little as she added, "He's too stubborn to die."

"Like you're really one to talk," Spider-Man pointed out as he grabbed Snow's other arm. "More to the point, I think that really applies to all of us at this point."

Everyone got at least a small chuckle out of that one, and they were soon following Hope the rest of the slow, short trek to his home with smiles on their faces. For the most part at least, because Hope just had to ask Spidey one quick question. "So who's this Doctor Octopus guy you were talking to just now?"

Spider-Man tensed up a little, but the moment was so quick that only Lightning had noticed since she was standing closest to him. He knew that the rosette was likely throwing him a worried look afterwards, but Spidey did not let it bother him too much as he replied, "Let's get to your place first, Hope, and I'll fill you guys in on everything then. Though, I would prefer to only explain after Snow wakes up, if nobody minds."

There was no argument against his request, but all the same, it was clear that when they got to Hope's house, they were going to be doing a lot more than planning their next move. They were also going to be getting quite a few overdue answers from the web-head of their group. The only concern there was just what questions would be answered, and how would they react when they had received said answers. It honestly made Lightning a little worried for Peter's sake, because there was no way he was not at least a little bit nervous.

* * *

Despite the short and uneventful remainder of the trip to Hope's house, no one had relaxed their guard until Hope had gone up to the building and rang the doorbell. Even then, they were still nervous when Hope's father came running out, but the look of relief he had on his face when he saw the boy at the door did make them feel a little easier. From what Spidey could tell, based on appearances, it looked like Hope's father, Bartholomew, held a very important position in whatever job he held, based on the rather nice suit that he wore, and from the look in his eyes, Peter could tell that the man did indeed care a great deal about his wife and son, despite what Hope believed. If anything, Peter had a hunch that Bartholomew just had a hard time really showing that he cared, and that had likely translated the wrong way to Hope given his current age. His suspicion only became more founded when Hope told his father about what had happened to Nora, because after hearing the full story, Bartholomew had broken down and cried heavily over the loss of his wife. Thankfully, Hope had refrained from telling him until they had all come inside, and while he was a bit wary of inviting Spider-Man into his home, Bartholomew did not hesitate to allow the masked man into his home when he saw that Spidey was helping to support the still unconscious and injured Snow. The fact that Hope had vouched for the web-head also helped Spidey's case in his father's eyes.

Afterwards, Lightning and Spidey had carried Snow to Hope's bedroom while the boy had talked with his father and Fang did something in another room. They may not have been fully aware of what Fang was doing, aside from trying to call in a report to the Cavalry and checking the news, but they did know that the Estheims needed some time to themselves, so the two decided to stay out of their way for the moment, busying themselves by tending to Snow. The two easily managed to get Snow bandaged up and soon decided to just sit off to the side to keep an eye on him, knowing that Snow would likely try to jump right up too quickly when he woke up if he were left on his own. During the time that they were waiting, Lightning had decided to turn on the news to see how things had progressed. Needless to say, neither she nor Spidey were too pleased with what they were hearing.

It came as no surprise that the Sanctum was still hunting them, or that the military's campaign to hunt down and eliminate them. What did get under their skin though was what else they learned. Apparently there were nearly twenty-five hundred people being held in quarantine by the Sanctum just because they were suspected of having come into contact with one of their group, and from what they could see on the television, they did not look too happy about it. More than that, according to the news source's polls, a large majority of Cocoon's citizens were in favor of an immediate Purging for those same people. They would have kept listening in had Spider-Man not shut the television off in anger. Thankfully, he was not angry enough to the point where he would have broken it due to losing control of his strength, but Lightning was still a bit annoyed by the fact he had shut it off all the same.

"I know you don't like it, but right now, that is the best source of information we have regarding what's going on out there," Lightning told Peter as he dropped down on one of the chairs near the bed Snow was resting on.

"Well I don't think we really need to listen that much more to know what's up," Peter pointed out.

Lightning had to admit that Peter did have a point there, but she could see that something else was bothering him, and she had a good idea what that was. Still, it did not hurt to ask just to be sure. "Are you okay? I mean, after what happened just a while ago…"

Peter knew what she was referring to, and immediately replied, "I'm fine, Light. I just…I knew that Doc Ock was probably still out there somewhere in the multiverse, but I can't believe that I never once thought that he could've ended up here as well. Honestly, I think it's really more why he's with the Sanctum that has me concerned than anything else."

"Do you think he really believes what they've told him," Lightning asked.

"Yeah. The conviction in his voice is proof enough. More than that, when Octavius believes he's in the right regarding anything, he'll always stand by that belief. That's just one of the reasons why he's so dangerous." Spidey then let out a tired sigh and said, "I just wish Fang knew a little bit more about where he is right now so I could go and talk with him. I'm not sure how much good it would do, but it is at least worth a try given how things had been between us before we were pulled here." After taking a moment though, he looked to Lightning and asked, "What about you? How're you holding up after the day you've just had? I can't imagine what must be going through your head right now."

Lightning had scowled a little at the mention of Fang's name, but her features quickly softened again at the level of concern in Peter's voice when he asked her that question. "Well…like you said: it's been a real rollercoaster of a day. The revelations I had regarding the fal'Cie, how we ran into Snow again earlier, what we learned about why this whole mess started…I doubt anyone would have an easy time dealing with that," Lightning admitted. She saw Peter nod in concession of this, and then continued on saying, "But despite all of that, I think the one thing that keeps going through my mind is how we've learned that Serah really will come back someday, at least if Fang and Vanille are any indication."

"I can see why that would be a huge thing for you," Peter nodded once again. "I mean, one minute you're fighting in order to get justice for what happened to your sister, and the next thing you know, it turns out that it may not be entirely necessary because she'll come back soon? I doubt words could really describe what that must feel like. But hey, at least you're still going to get your sister back someday soon."

"Assuming I'm still alive when she does come back," Lightning pointed out, reminding the web-head of how low their chances of survival were at the moment, along with the fact that Fang and Vanille had been in crystal stasis for hundreds of years.

"I get the feeling you will be. Like I said before, Snow's not the only one around here who's too stubborn to die," Spider-Man joked in response. He then had to pause in thought for a moment before he finally said, "You know, suddenly I want to introduce Fang and Vanille to Captain America just because I want to see all of their reactions to meeting someone else who spent several years on ice like that."

Lightning would have laughed at that little joke, but the fact that he had brought up Fang again made her mind go back to how friendly he was being with her before, and she was soon scowling once again as she turned away from Peter with her arms crossed. "Maybe you should go and tell her about that, since you two seem to have become such good friends all of a sudden."

That got Peter's attention, though it was more Lightning's irritated tone than the actual statement. "What're you talking about?"

"I'm just saying you two seem to have gotten really close in such short time, despite that not-so-spotless record of hers up until now. Figured you would've gone to find her so that you two would be able to share a few more laughs right about now instead of hanging around me and Snow," Lightning grumbled in reply.

"Look, I'll admit that Fang does seem pretty cool despite the mistakes she's made since waking up from her not-so-little nap, but I wouldn't call us 'best friends' or anything like that," Spidey defended. "And even if we were, why are you getting so upset about it?"

"I'm not. I just don't see how you two could've gotten so close in such short time," Lightning protested.

Peter would have said something in retaliation, but before he could, another thought occurred to him. It may have seemed a little crazy, but considering the circumstances and everything that he was seeing and hearing at the moment, it did make a lot of sense. Still, that did not mean the idea was any less out-there, and that was what drove him to react the way he did when he thought of it. "Oh my god," Peter gasped just before he burst out laughing.

"What's so funny," Lightning demanded, having been caught completely off-guard by Spidey's sudden laughter. Instead of an answer, all she received was a quick look from Spider-Man before he started laughing once again, riling her up a little more as a result. "What?"

"I just…I just can't believe…" Peter tried to say through his chuckles as best as he could. He could tell that it was just getting Lightning angrier, but at the moment, there was barely that much he could do about it. When he finally got enough control over himself, he looked Lightning dead in the eye and enlightened her on what he found so humorous. "You're jealous, aren't you?"

That surprised Lightning, right to the point where she had to quickly spin away from Peter in order to hide the faint blush that was forming on her face, and start fiddling with her survival knife as she denied his accusation. "No, I'm not."

"You are! You're totally jealous," Spidey exclaimed, a bit too excitedly one might note, before he started laughing a little bit again. "Big tough Lightning is jealous of the Pulsian spear-woman just because Fang can keep up with me in the old quip-pro-quo department."

"Shut it! I'm not jealous, especially not of that weird spear-woman," Lightning insisted, now turning to face Peter fully, only to reveal how red her face was becoming.

"Then why are you blushing?"

"I-I am not!"

"You are so! Your face is practically offsetting the color of your hair, Cathy!"

"I said I'm not blushing, I am not jealous, and once again, wrong guess!"

"Hey, keep it down, will ya? What's a guy gotta do to get some sleep around here," someone suddenly cut in with a groan, startling the two a little before they turned to the third and final occupant of the room as he slowly started to sit up.

"Oh, uh, sorry Snow," Spider-Man apologized while Lightning moved to gently push the blonde back down.

"And lay down. You shouldn't push yourself just yet," Lightning gently told him.

The fact that Lightning was the one telling him to take it easy was surprising on its own, but add in the fact that she was doing so without sounding like she hated his very being ended up being what really threw Snow for a loop. Still, he was not going to argue with her and immediately complied with her wishes, being very grateful for it a second later given how much it hurt when he was trying to sit up a minute ago. He then glanced over at the two when they sat back down next to the bed, and spotted the survival knife in Lightning's hands. "Huh. I see you took the kid's toy away," Snow commented.

Lightning glanced down at the knife for a minute, having forgotten that she had it out in the first place just now, until she finally corrected, "He gave it back to me. Said he didn't need it anymore."

"Go figure," Snow nodded, knowing full well why Hope would say that. He could still remember just how much lighter the weight on his shoulders had become after receiving Hope's forgiveness, and that brought a real smile to his face.

"More importantly, how're you holding up, big guy," Spidey asked.

"Ah, nothing to worry about too much. I'll be good as new before you know it," Snow reassured him with a quick thumbs-up.

"Glad to hear it, but don't try to rush anything, all right? The last thing anyone needs is for you to get yourself killed by jumping into something you're not ready for," Spider-Man advised.

Snow nodded in response to that, and was about to say something else, when Lightning suddenly spoke up, catching him off-guard with what she had to say. "It was too much," the rosette explained. "What happened to Serah. All I could think about was, 'What could I have done?' I _hated_ myself for not trusting her. It hurt too much. I couldn't face it. Luckily, a good friend was around to help me do so, in his own way." Snow and Spider-Man both had to smile a little at hearing Lightning say that, but they still found their gazes locked on her as they waited to see what she would either say or do next. They did not have to wait too long for that. "Look, Snow…I…I'm sorry. Forgive me."

"For what," Snow asked, completely surprised and confused about what he was supposed to forgive Lightning for. Sure, he could think of a few different things on a very long list, but he was not about to make this any harder for Lightning than it likely already was. Besides, he wanted to hear it from her.

"Everything," Lightning admitted as she stood up and looked away from him, almost in shame.

It felt like quite a few lifetimes with how tense it had suddenly become to Spider-Man, and he could not help but glance back and forth between Snow and Lightning as he waited to see how Snow would reply, hoping that the blonde would not say anything that set Lightning off. He knew that Snow was most likely not the type to do something like that in these kinds of situations, but there was still the possibility. In the end though, he felt himself tense up a bit when Snow finally laid back, smirked, and said, "If you told me your real name, I suppose I could."

Spidey was sure that Lightning would have reacted much differently than she did, but he was still very relieved when all she did was let out a short laugh and say, "Have Serah tell you when she comes back."

"Deal," Snow agreed with a smirk.

It was a nice little moment that had fallen between the two who had long since been at each other's throats ever since this had started, but despite his best efforts to keep quiet and let it live, Spider-Man could not help himself from commenting on it. "Now that's not fair. He gets to have Serah tell him when she gets back, but I've still got to try and guess what your name is," he playfully whined.

Instead of killing the moment like he feared he probably would have with his comment, he only ended up drawing a round of laughter from both Lightning and Snow, even as the former said, "Well look at this way, that might still be a ways off, so you've still got time to guess before he finds out. Besides, you're the one who's insisting on figuring out for yourself."

"She's got you there, Spidey," Snow chuckled.

Spider-Man was about to give a clever retort to them both when Hope suddenly came into the room, getting all three's attention. "My dad said he'd like to see you guys. He wants to talk," Hope informed them. He then directed a glance at Spider-Man and added, "That goes for all of us, including you."

"Are you sure," Spider-Man asked.

"Yeah," Hope nodded. "I don't think he actually believes the stuff that the news is saying about you, at least, not after I told him about you, so…"

Snow slowly sat up again, having an easier time with it this time around, and then exchanged a couple of looks with Lightning and Spider-Man before the two both nodded, and after Snow had retrieved his coat, shirt, scarf, and necklaces, they all followed Hope into the sitting room. When they arrived, they saw that Fang was already their waiting for them along with Bartholomew, the former of which was sitting on the armrest of one of the armchairs while the latter was seated at the couch on the opposite side of the table. After leading them over, Hope took a seat next to his father, and from that coupled with the smile on the boy's face made it quite clear that things between Hope and his father had worked out very well. Snow took a moment to stare at the two before he sat down in the chair directly opposite of them, and Lightning stood next to the chair to Snow's right. Spider-Man would have perched himself on the nearest wall, but considering that the closest ones were directly behind the couch or where the living room TV was set up, he figured that he would be better off just standing, so he took a spot next to Lightning, much to the rosette's hidden pleasure.

It was rather tense for a few moments, and while no one needed to guess as to why that was, they all still remained silent for quite a few minutes, each waiting to see who would break the silence first. Eventually, Snow finally took a deep breath, looked Bartholomew straight in the eye, dropped to his knees, and bowed his head as he said, "The blame is mine. I couldn't save her."

Despite how many details were left out of his statement, everyone was well aware that Snow was referring to what had happened to Nora. Even so, Spidey had no intention of letting Snow shoulder all of the blame on his own, and quickly added, "You're not the only one at fault, big guy. Despite my best efforts, I just wasn't fast enough to help. I share just as much blame as you do."

Bartholomew looked between the two men who were shouldering so much blame for what had happened to his wife before he finally rested his head in one hand a bit wearily, like he was getting tired of hearing something again and again. When Hope saw this, along with hearing what his two friends had said, he quickly threw in his own two cents, and told his father, "If it wasn't for Snow, I wouldn't be here right now, and Spider-Man has done more for me than I can ever repay, and not just in terms of saving my life either."

Bartholomew let that sink in for a minute before he looked up again, fixed his gaze on the two men and asked, "Snow…Spider-Man. Did Nora…Did she say anything to either of you?"

"Hope," Snow replied. "She said to…to get him home."

"She asked me to keep Hope safe," Spider-Man then revealed.

The man looked to his son for a minute, receiving a nod in response to his silent question, before he looked back to the two, silently studying them both, and said, "And that's exactly what you've both done."

Hearing that drew sighs of relief and gratitude from every other person in the room, because they all knew that this was Bartholomew's way of saying that he, like his son, forgave both Snow and Spider-Man for what had happened to his wife, and that he was grateful for what the two did in order to bring his boy home. Seeing that it was resolved turned to be such a relief that Lightning felt that she had to sit down, due to having been so worried and tense about how Hope's father would have reacted before, and she was soon comfortably seated in the chair she had previously been standing next to while Spider-Man stood up again to stand between her and the seat that Snow had previously occupied. At that point, Bartholomew felt that he had to air a few thoughts that had been on his mind since the group had showed up at his door.

"Face to face like this, it's hard to believe you're all dangerous fugitives," Bartholomew admitted. "But the entire world is scared to death of you l'Cie. No, not even just you. People who've helped you, bumped into you…Sometimes it's even just people who've walked by one of you. They think they're 'tainted' and want every one of them Purged. Not only that, but the Sanctum is so insistent that you're a menace that it seems like they want everyone to think that you're just as bad as the l'Cie, Spider-Man."

"Trust me, I've been called worse," Spidey shrugged, nonchalantly.

"Besides, the Sanctum's a puppet of the fal'Cie. To them, our lives don't mean anything at all," Snow nearly shouted. No one could argue with that, and Snow was not about to let anyone start worrying, so he added, "We'll stop this. Take down the Sanctum, _and_ save Cocoon."

"Oh here we go again," Spidey sighed, just noticing how Lightning glanced away in slight shame due to how she had been of a similar mindset not too long ago. "Snow, we can't just go in there and 'take down the Sanctum.' We'll only be proving them right to fear l'Cie if we do that, and it won't stop there. Everyone will want to take up arms against us and start up a real witch-hunt for anyone who has so much as _looked_ at a l'Cie in a friendly way."

"He's right you know," Bartholomew agreed, putting a damper on Snow's energetic mood. "I'd rather not do so, but can you imagine it? The rampant violence?"

"You don't need to ask us about that," Lightning informed him, remembering what had happened when she had suggested a similar course of action earlier on, and now feeling a little ashamed that she had. "Spidey's already made it quite clear that if we were to do something against the Sanctum like that, we'd only be making it much worse for us, and everyone else. When the government's control is gone, the citizens will revolt, and that's a best case scenario."

"So, what then? We're supposed to just smile and eat a bullet," Fang asked as she stood up to make sure that she was able to meet everyone's gaze. Her own eyes locked on both Bartholomew and Spidey as she added, "That means both of you, too."

"Yeah, I'm well aware of that, and I'd get involved in this again in a heartbeat," Spider-Man confidently replied, standing tall and proud as he did.

"And I know I'm part of this as well," Bartholomew scoffed with a smile of his own. "I'm on your side of the fence. Harborer of l'Cie and a menace, and a public enemy."

No one needed that reminder, especially considering that this man was the only family that Hope had left. They were well aware that coming to this place was putting a target on his father's back and they did not want that, but at the time, they did not really have time to think of any other options, even some of them were planning on bringing Hope here to begin with. Still, it did not keep them from feeling that they should have thought this through a little better, as Hope proved when he vocalized all of the group's thoughts in one sentence. "Coming here was a bad idea."

Hearing his son say that weighed heavily on Bartholomew's heart, and he was not about to let Hope think like that in regards to where he had lived and grown up so far. So, he immediately leaned over to place a reassuring hand on his boy's shoulder, looked him straight in the eye with a comforting look, and reminded Hope once again of something he had just said earlier. "This is your home." When Hope smiled to his father in thanks, Bartholomew laughed a little at seeing his spirits lift, and then stood up to address the group at large. "We're all here. Let's figure this out together. But first, I think there's something that we need to address to be sure that we're all in this together to the end."

At that point, Mister Estheim's gaze turned towards one particular occupant of the room, and his line of sight was quickly followed by the others to that exact same person, who was instantly looking around at everyone in confusion. "What? What're you guys looking at me like that for," Spider-Man questioned.

"It's nothing personal, Spider-Man, I assure you, but you are the only one here who is hiding his face completely behind a mask, and we need to be able to trust one another in this situation," Bartholomew explained. Fang wholeheartedly agreed with Hope's father, but she did not say that out loud or give any indication to the matter. Snow and Hope were of a similar mindset, since they knew that their own trust in Spider-Man was well-founded, but that did not keep them from feeling like they deserved at least a little more of a show of trust from him than they already had.

Unsurprisingly, Lightning was the only one who was against the idea. "You can trust Spider-Man, but he does have his reasons for keeping his identity a secret. People he cares about could be put at risk if too many people know who he is. Friends and family could be used as hostages against him by the Sanctum," the rosette tried to argue.

Someone likely would have countered that Lightning was only disagreeing on this because she already knew who the web-head was, but Spider-Man beat everyone to the punch by placing a hand on her shoulder and reassuring her, "It's okay, Light. He is right. Everyone here has more than earned the right to know by now after all we've been through together."

"Does that include Fang," Lightning asked, reminding him that Fang had barely known them for even half as long as the rest of their group had, albeit with a slight edge to her tone.

Spidey would have called her out on it by saying that she was showing signs of jealousy again, but he knew that there were other reasons for Lightning's skepticism in that regard. Fang did hold a lot of responsibility for their being in this situation to begin with, so the matter of whether or not she could really be trusted was in question. Fang hung her head for a minute, knowing all of this, but she was relieved to hear Snow come to her defense. "Trust me, Light. Fang's one of us through and through. We can trust her."

Seeing how sure Snow was of this, along with an equally sure nod from Hope that showed the kid believed in her as well, Lightning finally conceded and nodded to Spider-Man, telling him that he should do whatever he thought was right when he was ready. It took a moment or so before he did anything more, but all the same, Spidey did eventually reach up, and pulled his mask off in one swift tug, revealing his face to everyone in the room. When they all got a good look at his face, most of them could not believe how young he looked, or even how certain and confident the expression he held was, but out of all of them, Snow was the one who looked the most shocked, as his eyes were as wide as dinner plates the minute he saw whose face was behind the mask. After letting everyone get a good look at him for a few minutes, Spidey finally said, "My name is Peter Parker, and I am your friendly neighborhood, Spider-Man."

Everyone continued to stare in silence for a few more minutes until Fang finally broke the air of quiet with a smirk and asked, "Huh, I kinda thought you'd look a little younger."

"Said the woman who's been a shiny lawn ornament for how many _centuries_ again," Peter retorted with a smirk of his own.

While Fang just laughed his comment off, Hope smiled up at Peter and said, "You know, you actually look just like I thought you would." When Peter threw him a confused look in response, he easily elaborated, "Like someone who's kind, honest, brave, and a good friend."

Peter smiled in thanks to Hope for his comment, not knowing that Lightning was giving the kid a similar smile at the same time, and then looked over to the kid's father, just in time to see Bartholomew walk around the table until he was standing right in front of Peter with his hand out, and say, "It's a pleasure to meet you, Mister Parker, and thank you for what you've done for my boy."

"You don't need to thank me, Mister Estheim. I would gladly do it again in a heartbeat if I had to, and please, call me Peter," the Queens-born hero replied as he shook hands with the man before him.

The moment was soon interrupted though when Hope glanced over to the biggest person in the room and announced, "Uh guys, I think we might've broken Snow."

All attention was soon diverted from the unmasked Spider-Man and over to the blonde in question, who they all saw just sitting there gaping in shock at Peter, barely even moving at all. For a minute, they thought he might have stopped breathing, but they relaxed a bit seeing all the visual signs that confirmed he was. Still, the fact that he was not saying or doing anything else was what had them worried, so Peter slowly made his way over to him and asked, "Snow? Hey Mister Hero? Cocoon to Snow, you okay?"

Even when Peter waved a hand in front of the blonde's face, he showed barely any outward reaction, until finally, he did move, but not in a way that any of them were expecting. When he finally did move, it was only to roll his head a little bit before he fell to the floor with a hard thud. "Well…that happened," Fang commented as she moved to stand next to Peter as they looked down at the blonde.

"Yep," Hope confirmed as he did the same with his father.

"He fainted."

"Yeah."

"Found out who Spider-Man is and he fainted."

"That he did."

"Any particular reason why he would've fainted?"

"Well he and I met both as Peter Parker and as Spider-Man, and given that I've had years of experience making sure that no one suspects the two of being one-and-the-same, I'm pretty sure he never would've guessed because of my mad acting skills," Peter lightly boasted in response to Fang's question.

It was at that point that Bartholomew turned to see why Lightning was not a bit more concerned about the blonde, considering that he heard Snow was supposed to be her sister's fiancé, and he quickly became worried when he saw that the rosette was shaking a little, while doing her best to keep her mouth pressed into a thin line. "Uh Miss Farron…are you all right?"

When the others turned to face her, allowing her to get a full look at Snow again, Lightning could no longer stop herself, and they were greeted with an unbelievable sight that many people would likely have paid good money to have seen. Lightning Farron, the hardened ex-soldier, burst out laughing, right to the point where she was clutching her sides in pain from laughing so hard. "Huh. So it turns out that Lightning can laugh that hard," Spider-Man noted with a teasing smile. _'And she has a really cute laugh too…GAH! Focus Parker! Now is not the time to be day-dreaming about how pretty Lightning's laugh is! Even if it is really cute…ARGH! STOP IT!'_

Luckily, Lightning's laughter was able to rouse Snow pretty quickly, but he still seemed a bit groggy, since he glanced around for a minute until his eyes rested on Hope and he said, "Hey Hope. I just had the weirdest dream. We were at your place, and Spider-Man had unmasked himself to reveal that he was actually…"

"Hi Snow," Peter waved, still holding his mask in one hand.

"Hey Peter," Snow replied before turning back to Hope so he could continue, only to pause and look back again. He was silent for a few more minutes before he finally managed to say, "Oh…That wasn't a dream, was it?"

"Nope," Peter confirmed. "I am indeed Spider-Man."

"And I wish I had a camera for that," Lightning giggled, showing she was starting to regain control of herself, but just barely, as evidenced by how she seemed to start laughing a little harder just by looking at Snow.

Snow just looked at Lightning in confusion for a minute, questioning why she would need a camera, and why she seemed to have somehow caught a case of the giggles, a feat he thought was nearly if not completely impossible up until now, until it finally clicked for him, and he immediately bowed his head in embarrassment. "Please don't tell anyone about this," Snow groaned. "The guys will never let me live it down if they found out."

"So does that mean we can tell Serah about how her big, tough hero fainted when he found out Spidey's secret identity," Hope asked with a teasing smile that matched the ones that everyone else was quickly gaining, while Lightning seemed like she was about to burst out laughing again after hearing that.

Snow just groaned like he was in agony after hearing Hope's question, and it likely would have drawn another round of uncontrollable laughter from Lightning with the others joining in afterwards, had they not suddenly found any chances for relaxation and laughter suddenly flicker out along with the lights in the room and the house. "Don't need a Spider-Sense to know what this likely means," Peter commented as quickly donned his mask once again.

"Any ideas where they might be coming from," Lightning asked as she and the others all jumped to their feet and braced themselves for the fight that was coming.

Spidey remained silent for a minute, trying to focus his trusted sixth sense in an attempt to gain an answer to Lightning's question, until he just groaned, "No. My Spider-Sense is going so crazy that it's almost like it's stuck in permanent tingle."

"I take it that's bad," Fang commented, her hand slowly reaching for her spear.

"Oh yeah, it's pretty bad. All I can tell you is that they're either going to hit us with something really big and dangerous, or they're going to just hit us from every side all at once," Spidey informed her.

No one was entirely sure which scenario they preferred over the other, but they soon discovered which one they were going to end up in when Lightning's gaze immediately jumped up to the ceiling as she shouted a warning to them all just seconds before the glass was broken in, allowing several smoke grenades to fall around them. Everyone was soon coughing a little as the room filled with smoke, and from the sounds of breaking glass that were coming from nearby, it was clear that PSICOM's forces were now coming into the house through the windows, thinking that they could use the smokescreen as a cover. What they did not realize was that most of the group was ready for this sudden intrusion, thanks to both Lightning and Fang's skills and training, and Spidey's Spider-Sense, which he finally managed to focus a little better so that he could tell where the enemy soldiers were, despite the smoke in the room. Snow had attempted to get Hope to move into the back of the house where it was safe, but he could not hide the fact that he was still not ready to put up a fight yet, and Hope made that quite clear to him after he had guided his father to the blonde.

"You're not ready for this," Hope insisted as he helped Snow up as best as he could. "I'll stay here. Snow, help my dad!"

Snow stared at the kid for a minute, until he finally just grinned and clasped hands with Hope to show that he understood. The blonde then lead Bartholomew out of the room to safety just in time to avoid getting caught in a soldier's line of fire along with Hope, but thankfully, Spidey came to the rescue with a quick web-line that disarmed the soldier before his finger could even begin to squeeze the trigger. The wall-crawler then left Lightning to knock that same soldier out with a hard spin kick, and after sparing a few webs to keep that same soldier down and out of the fight, he fell in beside the rosette along with Hope and Fang, and the four were soon jumping into battle once again. They may not have wanted to fight right at this second for so many reasons, but that did not mean that they were not at least a little ready for this, so they just had to grin and bear with it as they tried to keep Hope's father safe.

For the most part, the soldiers invading the Estheim residence were no worse than the typical brand of troopers, even though a good number of them were using stun batons and guns in an attempt to bring them down, but there were still a few in there that were using jetpacks in order to fight them. That made the fight fairly easy for the most part, but it could only go so smoothly for so long, and that was proven the minute that more soldiers using Shocker gauntlets came raining in on them, bringing more powerful hits and destructive blasts with them the minute their feet had hit the floor. The four made sure to stay as clear of these people as possible for the most part, but Spider-Man was glad to try and take these particular soldiers on, personally, seeing as he had experience dealing with people who used such weapons. He was incredibly thankful to see that the gauntlets still had that one flaw that caused them to short out when they were jammed up by a bit of webbing, and that proved to be a strategy he could easily exploit, especially since the gauntlets sent out quite the electrifying feedback when they got clogged up which either knocked out the soldiers or left them stunned long enough for him or one of the other three to deliver a finishing blow. At least, it was an easy strategy, but it only lasted for a short while.

After he had spotted another soldier with Shocker gauntlets, Spidey immediately prepared to jam up the weapons in question with his webbing, but when he hit the trigger all that came out of his web-shooter was a fizzling sound, which meant that it was likely empty. He did not worry about it too much, seeing as he still had his other web-shooter, but his concern immediately grew when he only received the same results from the second web-shooter as well. "Oh no," Spider-Man gasped as he continued trying to fire the web-shooters in hopes that they still had a little bit of web fluid left. "No, no, no, no! Not now! Please tell me these things are not out of web fluid now!"

The soldier Spidey had been trying to fire webs at did not miss the web-head's obvious distress, and he was soon smirking beneath his helmet as he charged Spider-Man, his gauntlet primed to take out the superhero. In his haste to attack Spider-Man though, he never noticed anyone else coming at him until after Lightning had kicked him away and disabled his gauntlets with her gunblade. With that particular assailant dealt with, Lightning looked over to Spidey and said, "Don't tell me you're out of webbing again."

"I would if I could," Spider-Man sighed as he ejected and crushed the empty cartridges. When he reached to his belt for a fresh pair, he made another disheartening discovery that was not going to benefit them at all. "Uh, more bad news. I'm down to my last pair of web fluid cartridges. After this, I'm out of webs."

"You can't be serious," Fang groaned after knocking another soldier into the air that was then knocked out by Hope's boomerang.

"I thought you said that you had plenty of spares," Lightning pointedly noted.

"You'll recall that I said that back in the Vile Peaks, which was quite a while back. Not only that, but while I haven't been able to use my webs all that much before we got to Palumpolum, that changed quite a bit afterwards, especially considering what I've had to do in order to keep moving quickly through the city, or whenever we got into fights," Spider-Man countered while lunging for a soldier that was coming at Fang from behind, knocking him out with a hard punch before taking down two more by spinning a pair of kicks into them.

"Well you'd better do whatever you can to make 'em last," Lightning advised while she and Fang tag-teamed to take out the last four soldiers on the ground. Hope and Spider-Man then followed that up by taking out the last airborne soldiers thanks to Spider-Man using the enclosed space of the house to get over and around them so that he could knock them down long enough for Hope to finish them off with some fire magic, but even with all the soldiers inside the house down for the count, there was still the matter of the ones who were waiting for them outside. Knowing this, the four immediately made their way to the window as cautiously as they could, and after they knelt down to take cover behind the wall, Lightning, Fang, and Spidey took a small peak out to see what was waiting for them. What they saw was not promising for their odds at all.

"Who ordered the battalion," Fang asked, showing that she was still able to keep some sense of clever wit about her even with the massive amount of troops surrounding the house with guns primed to fire at anything that came into the lights that the massive airships were now shinning down on the premises.

"Don't look at me. I wanted Mexican," Spider-Man quipped in reply. When he received blank looks from the others, he sheepishly explained, "It's a kind of food that's typical in a certain country back where I'm from."

No one said anything in response, as they merely turned their focus back to the situation before them. As she analyzed the enemies outside, looking for any weak points in their formation that they could exploit, Lightning just had to comment on what she believed PSICOM's next move would be, saying, "They'll take out the whole building next."

"That's not helping, Light," Spider-Man pointed out, dryly.

Lightning just rolled her eyes at Peter, and then glanced over to where Snow and Bartholomew had retreated to. Upon seeing them kneeling in the doorway to the next room back, she waved them forward while mouthing for them to come up. Snow did not hesitate to race forward as best as he could, guiding Bartholomew along until he was situated alongside Hope, after which, he collapsed against the wall behind Fang and Lightning while Hope and his father checked each other over for any injuries while staying well out of the soldiers' sights. Once he had regained his breath and looked outside, Snow narrowed his eyes as he started forming what could just barely be called a plan, considering how risky it was. All the same, he was not one to hesitate on taking action to help his friends, so he settled on his decision and just muttered, "My turn."

Lightning, Fang, and Spider-Man each turned to him just in time to see the blonde stand up and remove his coat and shirt, letting his bandaged torso be shown once again, and they all quickly caught on to what Snow was doing. As much as they hated the idea, they knew that Snow was going to go through with it no matter what they said, so they all stepped aside and allowed him to take his shot. Once he had stepped into the position that Lightning had previously occupied, Snow took a deep breath to calm any nerves that were working up, and raised his coat up so that it would be completely visible to everyone outside. The minute the soldiers saw his trusted jacket, they opened fire, peppering it with several rounds of bullets, and Spidey had to admit, he was surprised that it gained a smaller number of actual bullet holes than it should have. If it were another time and place, he would likely have been wondering just what Snow's coat was made of, but their current situation took precedence over anything else right now. That did not mean that he had to like what Snow was clearly planning, and it seemed that Lightning was of the same opinion since she tried to protest against this crazy plan.

Snow just raised a hand to silence any arguments that anyone had, and then turned his attention outside as he shouted, "Don't shoot! I'll show you what a l'Cie looks like!"

Shockingly, the storm of gunfire ceased a couple of seconds after Snow had made his declaration, and once he was certain that no one was going to fire anymore, he dropped his coat and stepped into the light with his hands raised in surrender. He carefully made his way over the broken glass and out the window, until finally, he found himself standing outside in what he felt was the perfect position for every single soldier in the PSICOM battalion to get a good look at him. Even though he could see a few targeting lasers on his person with a simple glance from the corners of his eye, Snow did not make any attempts to move back or reconsider his idea. Instead, he just gathered his courage, took a deep breath, and shouted, "Me! I'm a l'Cie! Surprised? Expected some kinda monster? I'm flesh and blood like you! An ordinary citizen of Cocoon! Don't you get it? This has been our home our whole lives! How could we even think about destroying it?! We want to protect this place just as much as you!"

Snow's actions and words definitely had quite the effect, as everyone in the house could soon hear the soldiers muttering amongst themselves in disbelief. Some of them were wondering if Snow was telling the truth, while others remained steadfast in what they believed and tried to insist that the blonde was lying. All the rest were just trying to get their comrades to keep their focus on the matter at hand, but it was still obvious to the ones that the battalion was targeting that those same soldiers were just as thrown for a loop as the rest. It was starting to seem like Snow might have gotten a little sense into these men, until a new voice suddenly spoke up, while the search light on the airship moved to highlight the speaker, allowing everyone to see him. "You must be Snow Villiers," the man mused as he moved to stand before both Snow and his troops. "Yaag Rosch, PISCOM Division."

"Oh great," Lightning whispered in dismay, knowing that there was little chance of anything Snow said just now getting through to him.

Her reaction did not go unnoticed, at least not by Spider-Man, and he immediately made his way over to her and asked, "Do you know that guy?"

"He was one of my instructors while I was training in the Soldier Academy," Lightning replied a bit sadly. "Even back then I somehow knew he was dedicated and willing to go to great extremes in order to protect Cocoon. I guess this just confirms it."

That sounded too awfully familiar to Spider-Man, since a few members of his rogues gallery were also people he had known at one point or another, be it as a teacher of in some other manner, so he had a pretty good idea what Lightning was feeling right now, knowing that one of their enemies had been her teacher at one point. Even so, that did not mean his blood did not boil a little as he listened to what Rosch was saying to Snow. "I understand your plight; however, the Pulse threat is not so easily dismissed. The very existence of you l'Cie puts every last one of us in danger," Rosch calmly stated. "Tell me, do you really think your life is worth more than the lives of millions of Cocoon citizens? I do not, and so it falls to me to order your execution. It's that simple. It is my responsibility to see you put down. Your lives are forfeit."

Rosch then turned away from Snow, making to leave, but Snow was not about to let what the lieutenant colonel just walk away so easily without getting a few more words in. "Aw, cut the crap," Snow shouted to Rosch's back. "You want l'Cie, then kill l'Cie! Why do other people have to die? The Purge has gotta stop!"

"Do you think we want to Purge our own people," Rosch angrily demanded as he spun around to glare at Snow once again. "If any trace of Pulse remains, the populace will erupt into chaos. Without sacrifice, without the Purge, Cocoon will die!"

"Oy, how bigoted can you get? Seriously, when are you going to stop spouting pathetic excuses and start telling us the actual truth," Spider-Man finally shouted, startling everyone. He had heard enough of what he believed to be utter crap, and he was not going to just sit back and let it slide, a point he made quite clear as he stepped out into the light to stand alongside Snow, arms raised to show that he had no intention of fighting right now.

"SPIDER-MAN," Snow and Rosch both gasped in shock.

"I get that reaction a lot," Spidey commented, but since it lacked his usual, humorous tone, one could tell that he was going to be getting serious. This fact was further enforced when he locked his gaze directly on Rosch, no doubt glaring at the man from behind his mask, and said, "You say you don't want to Purge the citizens of Cocoon, and I can tell that is somewhat true, but the fact that you're willing to open fire on a crowd just to eliminate a small number of people makes me have a hard time believing that, Rosch. You can lie to yourself and your men all you want, but don't you dare try to lie to me or my friends by saying that everything you're doing is because it's for the betterment of Cocoon. More importantly, don't even think about trying to give me any of that 'needs of the many versus the needs of the few' crap."

"You dare…" Rosch snarled.

"Yeah, as a matter of fact, I do," Spider-Man interrupted, cutting off any monologue Rosch was about to spew before he could get another word in. "I've had people telling me that we can't save everyone before, and I do acknowledge that as a fact, but I will never, and I mean _never_ think for so much as one second that we shouldn't at least try to save everyone. All life is precious, and that means if any amount of lives are threatened, we need to make every effort we can to save them all and not just kill off a few so that more can live. Being willing to sacrifice yourself for the greater good is one thing, but it's another thing entirely when you go and needlessly take innocent lives in the way you and your forces have been doing while claiming it's for the greater good! There's always a better way to protect the innocent. That's something you seem to either fail to understand or have just forgotten."

Rosch simply looked on at Spider-Man for a minute before he finally scoffed, "How naïve. You really think you can make any difference and save everyone, including Mister Villiers and your comrades behind you? You are Pulse l'Cie, and in spite of anything you all do to help Cocoon, they will hate and scorn you simply because of the Pulse taint you all carry."

"And that's another thing," Spider-Man cut in once again. "Why don't you just admit that you're simply afraid. Afraid of anything Pulse-related because you simply don't know anything more than what the Sanctum fal'Cie have told you, and because you don't understand Pulse at all. I can understand being afraid of something strange and different from you; I've seen that fear turn good people to do terrible things, but all that fear ever does is bring suffering to both sides. Have you ever once stopped to think that maybe if you tried taking a look at Pulse for yourself instead of just listening to the old stories that the Sanctum and its fal'Cie have sold you, you might find out that things are much different now?"

"Nothing will ever change about Pulse. This is not a mere superstition; it is a fact," Rosch insisted, though you could hear a bit of wavering in his voice, indicating that his resolve was shaking, even just a tiny, little bit.

"Sheesh. I've met some stubborn people in my life, but you sir, have to be one of the top contenders for the top spot on the list," Spider-Man quipped. He would have said more, but before he could, someone started dropping smoke grenades into the area, and given how Rosch and the PSICOM soldiers were looking around in panic and confusion, it had most likely not been any of them.

A minute later, Spidey had pulled Snow down in case anyone suddenly started firing blindly amidst the confusion, and when the sounds of explosions started going off, that likelihood only grew a little more. The possibility soon became reality when Spider-Man heard gunshots, and he was quickly glancing upwards in an attempt to see through the smoke, only to see the silhouettes of the various soldiers suddenly start dropping while one was turning this way and that in an attempt to ascertain the situation around him. That last silhouette was most likely Rosch, if Spider-Man had to guess, and when he noticed another soldier raising his rifle towards the man, the web-head simply reacted on instinct. With all his might, he sprang forward and shoved Rosch out of the way, pulling them both down under the rain of bullets just seconds before the gunner had fired. When the gunfire ceased, Spider-Man snapped a web-line at Rosch's previous assailant, yanked the weapon away, and sprung forward to knock the man out with a hard punch to the head.

Turning back to where Rosch was sitting on the ground, Spider-Man was greeted with the sight of the PSICOM leader just gaping at him, unable to believe what had just happened, and it showed in his voice when he eventually stuttered, "You…You s-saved me?"

Spider-Man slowly made his way over to Rosch until he was standing over the man and said, "Like I said, unlike you, I believe that we need to at least try and save everyone that we can without killing others." He let that sit for a minute before he suddenly snapped his fist into Rosch's head, knocking him out cold, and finished, "Doesn't mean I'm not still going to punch you. In case you forgot, you're still threatening my friends."

It was at that point that the smoke finally seemed to be clearing up, and from what Spider-Man could tell, any soldiers who were not already unconscious or dead had beat a hasty retreat. This was good news of course, but it was a small blessing in the face of how there was still a large airship bearing down on him and Snow, and Spidey doubted that he would be able to disable it as easily as he had getaway helicopters and cars, especially when he was on his last two cartridges of web fluid. Even when Lightning, Hope, and Fang came rushing out to try and help him and Snow, he had a hunch that fighting a ship like this would be no easy feat for them right now. They were all tired, their weapons and equipment were likely in desperate need of maintenance or repairs, and if they were not careful, the Estheim residence would likely be brought crashing down due to a stray shot, killing Hope's father, who was still inside. That did not deter any of them from wanting to at least try, because none of them were going to go down without a fight, but thankfully, they did not have to do either of those things.

Just before any of the group could make a move to attack, the airship was suddenly hit by a large beam that cut through it like a knife through butter, and the ship was soon dropping down from the air like deadweight while the five all turned to the source of the blast. When they finally found said source, their eyes were greeted with another ship that was slowly closing up its main cannon as it descended towards them. When it finally became level with the ground, the doors opened and allowed a small squad of troops clad in the colors of the Guardian Corps to jump off and run towards them. The five immediately braced themselves for a fight, not wanting to let their guard down in case these people were not friendly, but surprisingly, not one of the soldiers raised their weapons towards them. Instead, they simply stood at attention as their leader stepped forward with his gun holstered over his shoulder, until he was standing before the group.

"Heya Fang," the leader greeted as he pulled off his helmet to reveal a mess of shoulder-length brown hair and a teasing smirk. "Need a ride?"

It was not until Fang finally sighed in relief that the group finally relaxed, and some of them could not help but smirk a little as the spear-woman retorted, "Don't get cute, Rygdea."

"Friends of yours," Spidey asked.

"Mmm, more like business partners, really," Fang shrugged.

Before any of the others could comment, Rygdea's eyes fell on the web-head and he immediately asked, "Are you Spider-Man? Like…the _real_ Spider-Man?"

"Uh, yes," Spider-Man hesitantly replied. The next thing he knew, Rygdea and his men were all snapping to attention and saluting him, much to everyone's surprise.

"Sir, it's an honor to finally meet you," Rygdea said. "We've heard a great deal about both your exploits in Bodhum, and about your efforts during the Purge from Snow. The fact that you willingly risked your life to save so many people alone makes you quite an interesting individual in our books, but to hear that you're fighting for the same cause as us is nothing short of welcoming."

"Thanks…I think," Spider-Man slowly nodded.

"Right, let's move it," Fang waved, cutting the meet-and-greet short, and she was soon leading the way to Rygdea's airship, with the others following after a few seconds later.

As he was going, Spider-Man noticed that Hope had paused for a minute to look back at his house, and he could have sworn that the kid had whispered a quick, well-wishing farewell to his father when he did. Hearing Hope mention his dad reminded Peter that he had not seen Bartholomew since he had stepped out to talk with Rosch, and he just had to make sure that the elder Estheim was all right. That was why he quickly jogged over to Lightning and whispered, "Hey, what happened to Mister Estheim? He didn't get hurt at some point did he?"

"He's fine. Just tied up back in the house," Lightning reassured him. Knowing that Peter was giving her a look that requested an explanation for the latter comment, she quickly added, "We had him tied up so that he would be able to sell the story that we threatened him and forced him to help us. It was the only way we would be able to keep him from getting dragged any further into this than he already was. At least this way, Hope might still have a father to come home to when this is over."

Spider-Man immediately nodded in understanding. Sure, Hope's dad would likely be facing a lot of problems due to coming in contact with them, but if anyone knew that he had willingly provided them with any help, there was no telling what could have happened. The kid had already lost his mother, and more to the point, he and his dad had just started patching things up. There was no way they were going to let him lose any more family than he already had. Still, that clearly did not stop Hope from looking back at his house once they were aboard the ship and lifting off to wherever these allies of Fang's were taking them. When he saw the kid's downtrodden expression, Spider-Man instantly patted the kid on the shoulder, reassuringly, giving him a silent promise that they would it through this, and that he would be back when this was over. The web-swinger may not have had a home to go back to anymore, but Hope still did, and Spider-Man was going to do everything in his power to make sure that the kid would. He was just glad that he was not alone in that mission, as one would tell you just from the reassuring smiles that both Snow and Lightning were throwing Hope's way as well.

* * *

 ** _AN: Wow. Lotsa stuff happening. Fang's recounting of her history after she woke up, the unveiling of Doc Ock and why he's working with PSICOM, the talks that happened at Hope's house, and even the most recent confrontation between Rosch and Spidey. Yeah, it was necessary for that to happen._**

 ** _Fang: Not to mention we saw Lightning get jealous._**

 ** _Lightning: I did not! How many times do I have to say that I wasn't jealous?!_**

 ** _Spider-Man: You mean, how many times until we actually believe you...Yeah, I don't think that number exists, mostly because no one's going to buy it._**

 ** _AN: And the funny stuff just keeps on coming with Spider-Man unveiling his secret identity to everyone. Namely, Snow's reaction when he found out._**

 ** _Lightning: [bursts out laughing again, dropping to floor as she does]_**

 ** _Snow: Oh come on! It was not that funny!_**

 ** _AN: Yeah it was. Why do you think it was in there? Yeah, I had planned on that being Snow's reaction right from the start of this thing, and that Lightning would react the way she did to said reaction. And let's not forget about some other details that were mentioned this time around, namely on the more serious side of things, like what Spidey mentioned about Fang's brand being changed after she woke up. Yeah, if you forget about how the fal'Cie made more l'Cie afterwards when Vanille and Fang didn't get right to work, I honestly think that Vanille might've had a point when she said that they didn't need their Focus anymore. I mean, why else would Fang's brand be all faded out like that, and not once change until that first confrontation with Dysley? What if, that alteration was just a sign that our favorite Gran Pulse girls were free of their Focus and could now just live life they way they wanted, huh? Sure, it would've been hard at first, but the possibility is still there._**

 ** _Fang: There was also still the chance that we did need our Focus, and if we didn't finish it, Vanille would've turned Cie'th._**

 ** _AN: I never said otherwise. I'm just saying, you might've been a little too high-strung about trying to remember your Focus so that you could get it done that you did not seem to ever think that it was possible that you didn't need to worry about it anymore. Anyone else agree with me on that? Huh? Come on, don't be shy and say whether or not you agree with me and Spidey in your reviews. Oh, and by the way, expect a few things to go nuts now that we've got Doc Ock and Spider-Man knowingly going at it again, because yeah, things are really starting to pick up now that Spidey knows one of the top three contenders for the top spot in his greatest villains list is on Cocoon. You'll see what I mean come next chapter, along with a few other things as well._**

 ** _Spider-Man: What's that supposed to mean?_**

 ** _AN: Here's a hint to see for yourself: Onto the Preview!..._**

 ** _Our heroes return to the Lindblum, where Cid Raines is waiting to greet them so that he may explain the true mission of the Cavalry , along with how they will need everyone in their little team in order to accomplish this goal. Knowing this means locating and retrieving Sazh and Vanille, the others take a moment to catch their breathes at last while also doing everything they can to prepare for the next storm that they will be facing. As a part of this preparation, Spider-Man does everything he can with Hope's help to make sure that all of his equipment is at its best, while also filling the others in on the story behind Doc Ock. Just what sort of new tricks will the web-head be unlocking, and when the time comes, what will be waiting for the l'Cie heroes and their wall-crawling friend? Things are really going to be heating up, next time._**

 ** _Please read and review, and swing on back for next time fellow true believers!_**


	12. Gearing Up For Storms

**_AN: Okay, this chapter turned out to be longer than expected, and not only that, but I also have it ending at a point sooner than I had originally planned. How do you like that?_**

 ** _Hope: At least you've finally finished it. I was beginning to think it would be close to New Year's by the time we saw another chapter of this story._**

 ** _Spidey: How do you think I feel, or a few of my other fellow superheroes for that matter? Some of the other stories I'm in haven't been updated in forever, like Avenging Normandy, or Justice Marvel, just to name a couple._**

 ** _AN: Hey, chill out, dude. I'm gonna get around to updating those soon. I've just had a bit more focus directed at stories that bring together things like Kingdom Hearts and superheroes lately, like my Kingdom Hearts story, Kingdom Hearts: Dual Keys, or the new Kingdom Hearts&Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes crossover, Hearts of Avengers, online now for those of you who are not already aware and are fans of both Kingdom Hearts and the Avengers, or just Marvel in general._**

 ** _Fang: You know, if this chapter is so long, maybe we should just cut to the review answering before someone tries to give away a spoiler or something? Starting with say "Dragon Naruto"?_**

 _ **AN: Fair enough. To answer your question in regards to Doc Ock's allegiance with the Sanctum, that information will not be revealed until much later on in the story, but I do intend to make it as surprising as possible.**_

 _ **Next up, let's have a couple of words for "Thunder Dragon". Nice little parody of "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" there, dude. I think I might build something off of that later on in the story for a little Omake or something.**_

 _ **Lightning: I didn't think it was that good. [blushes a little at the thought of said parody]**_

 _ **AN: Sure, you didn't. [eye roll] Moving on to our regular reviewing friend, "Monkey D. Conan". Sorry, but the Cavalry will not be providing Spidey with a Spider-Cycle, but we will see a bit more teasing of the SpideyxLight relationship from Snow and Fang, and maybe even a little from Vanille later on, too. But I can promise that Spider-Man will be getting something that will be just as good, if not a bit better than the Spider-Cycle in this story. You'll have to wait quite a while to see what it is though.**_

 _ **To the guest reviewer "Guest" who posted on Sept 8, I had mentioned Peter was 25 very early on in this story. Like first chapter early on. How exactly did you miss that? I'm not asking to be mean or anything, I'm just wondering if you could clear that up for me.**_

 _ **Moving on to "IAmN0tDead", I'm well aware that in the main continuity of the comics, Peter and Gwen met in college, but this is not following that line of continuity. If anything, this story follows a more original continuity that takes a bit of inspiration from multiple different Spider-Man series and stories, as evidenced by how Spider-Man was lead to Cocoon in the aftermath of a plot by Doc Ock which was like the one he used in the Ends of the Earth storyline, but instead of getting the armor he wore in that story, Spidey acquires the suit he is set to wear in the PS4 Spider-Man video game that set to come out in 2018.**_

 _ **While we're here, let's give a little shout-out to "New Universe Returns", and his suggestion for folks to do some other Spider-Man x Final Fantasy crossovers, namely some of the ones he suggested. Personally, I'd kinda like to see a story that brings Spider-Man into the worlds of either Final Fantasy VII or Final Fantasy X, myself. Maybe even Final Fantasy XV, too.**_

 _ **Hope: What? Not going to mention how in the sequel for this story you'll end up having Spidey and the team travel to a world that's practically...**_

 _ **AN: And there it is. DAH! SPOILER! [hits control]**_

 _ **Hope: [gets drenched in molten lava that leaves him encased in rock] [mutters] I'm okay.**_

 _ **AN: Finally, to the guest reviewer "PeterXLight", I'm not going to give anything away on that little detail, but I will say that Serah will react to Spidey's secret identity a lot better than her fiance did.**_

 _ **Lightning: [starts laughing at the memory of that once again]**_

 _ **Snow: It was not that funny. [crosses his arms in a huff]**_

 _ **AN: Whatever you want to believe, Snow. Now, I think that's enough time wasting. On with the show everybody!**_

 _ **I do not own anything from any Spider-Man or Final Fantasy franchises or any other franchise mentioned in this story.**_

* * *

 **Chapter 12: Gearing Up For Storms**

The ride back up to the Calvary's base of operations was both smooth and silent, and everyone was very grateful for that. After the day that they had all had, the battles that they got into, and the things they learned, a long period of calm silence was a very welcome respite, for some more than others. Even Spider-Man was remaining quiet for most of the trip, shockingly, but it was not like anyone really had anything to say at this point. Most of the things that the group wanted to talk about were things that would be looked into when they arrived at their destination, or that they would not be able to discuss with so many prying eyes and ears around them. True, a good deal of the latter was in regards to Spider-Man and some of the things that they had learned about him, as well as the presence of his old enemy in Cocoon, but there were still at least one or two other things in there that they did not want to go broadcasting to everyone in the crowd surrounding them.

When they finally reached the _Lindblum_ , Snow was once again gazing at the flying fortress in awe. He may have already seen the thing from the outside a couple of times before, and been inside of it for a time, but that did not make the sight of the massive ship any less incredible. Apparently, Lightning and Hope both agreed with him on that, because they were both gazing at the flying fortress in awe as well; although, Hope was the one who was looking at it in the same manner as Snow for the same reasons. For Lightning, her awe was more similar to a state of being star-struck. Having served in the Guardian Corps, Lightning had heard many different stories about the _Lindblum_ and the soldiers who both commanded and served aboard it, and the things she had heard had left her feeling like those people were the kind of soldiers that others would aspire to be. Never in her life had Lightning ever imagined that she would actually get to see it in person, herself, but then again, she had been experiencing many things she had never expected to go through ever since Peter had showed up in Bodhum that night.

No one was surprised that Fang was not looking at the vessel in the same way as the other three, but some of them were a little surprised by Spider-Man's lack of a reaction. When they asked why he did not seem even a little excited, the web-head just shrugged and said, "Meh, you seen one flying fortress headquarters for a peace-keeping organization, you seen 'em all. SHIELD had a whole fleet of those types of things at a time back home. Which is actually a bit more necessary than you might think, considering how one of those Helicarriers seems to fall out of the sky every other week."

Anyone who did not entirely understand what the web-head was talking about looked very confused after that statement, but everyone who did just nodded in acknowledgement of this fact. They knew Spider-Man was not trying to sound conceited or anything like that. He had just seen things like this so much back home that it had started to lose its thrill to him after a while. They put that aside though, as they felt the ship rumble slightly as it came into dock on the _Lindblum_ , and soon enough, they were being escorted out into the hangar bay. Looking ahead of them, Snow and Fang immediately spotted Raines waiting at the end of the walkway with a pair of guards flanking him as usual, and they both knew what was going to follow next once they reached him.

"Welcome back, Fang and Snow. Glad to see you managed to get your friends out of there in one piece," Raines nodded to the two.

"Well, I wouldn't say that entirely," Snow admitted, rubbing his injured side a little when he did.

Cid immediately recognized this and reassured Snow that they would have a doctor take a better look at him later on, much to the blonde's relief. He then turned to greet the three new arrivals, starting with the youngest of the bunch. "You must be Hope Estheim," Cid guessed as he held out a hand to the boy. "Cid Raines. Brigadier general of the fleet."

"Nice to meet you, sir," Hope nodded, accepting the handshake when he did.

Raines smiled in return and then said, "I think you'll be pleased to know that another Calvary unit has already seen to the rescue of your father and taken him somewhere safe for the moment. I wish it were possible to help you speak with him, but given the current circumstances…"

"That's all right. I'm just glad to know that he's safe. Besides, I've gotta start making my own decisions now," Hope reassured him.

Once again Raines had to smile at the boy, feeling very impressed with the young man's maturity. There was little doubt in his mind that his circumstances had helped the boy to grow up a little faster than he probably would have liked, but Cid was glad to see that it was in a very positive way. He then turned to the next person in the trio and was a bit surprised when she snapped to attention with the typical soldier salute. "Sir, it's an honor to meet you," Lightning stated, her training showing in how formally she spoke.

"There's no need for that," Raines reassured the rosette. "After all, even without being a l'Cie, I was under the impression that you are no longer a soldier." Lightning seemed to deflate a little, both from that reminder and a little bit of embarrassment. "Still, the pleasure is all mine. I've read many of Amador's reports regarding the famous Lightning Farron, and if everything else I've heard about you is any indication, then I feel that it is a shame that we ended up having to lose you. You've become quite the impressive soldier at so young an age, and are a credit to your old regiment, Miss Farron."

"Thank you, Raines," Lightning smiled. She knew that Amador had bragged about her to a few of his fellow officers and superiors at times, but that did not make receiving such praise from the Cid Raines any less profound for her.

"Although, I must admit that I'm surprised at one thing," Raines suddenly said. "Amador had failed to mention in his reports just how lovely you are." Now Lightning was blushing a little, and her blush actually grew a smidge when she found her hand being kissed by Cid a moment later. Naturally, she was left feeling speechless, but what could she say in response to that? As it turned out, she did not have to say anything, and the group was all left feeling surprised when said person had spoken up.

"Ahem. Not to interrupt, but I do believe that we were told you could help us out somehow? I kinda doubt that was referring to simple greetings," Spider-Man interrupted, and the others could have sworn that his tone sounded a bit more pointed and irritated than usual.

Raines immediately moved on from Lightning when he realized who had spoken, and his face seemed to light up a little as he quickly shook hands with Spider-Man. "Of course, but may I just say that it is an honor to meet you at last. I've heard many things from reports, news, and even Snow about you, but to meet the mighty Spider-Man in person…well, I find myself almost speechless by the whole thing," Cid declared, and anyone could have sworn there was a hint of child-like excitement in his voice when he spoke.

"'Mighty Spider-Man,' huh," Spidey repeated as he returned the handshake, subconsciously adding squeezing Raines' hand a little harder than normal when he did. "Eh, it's not bad, but I still kinda prefer 'Spectacular Spider-Man' or 'Amazing Spider-Man'."

"And yet you'd just go right back to simply 'friendly neighborhood Spider-Man' regardless," Lightning quipped in response.

"Hey, why fix what isn't broke," Spider-Man shrugged in reply, his hand still locked in a handshake with Raines. "Uh, you can let go now, dude."

"Oh, my apologies. I suppose my excitement got the better of me for a moment there," Raines admitted, flexing his hand a little once he had let go, just to get some feeling back into it. He then redirected the conversation onto another matter that he had been dying to ask about. "Snow tells me that you are not a l'Cie, and are apparently, I quote, 'l'Cie proof.' Is that true?"

"It is," Spider-Man confirmed. "I'm actually something that's typically known as a metahuman. As for the whole l'Cie proof thing, that's something that has to do with my unique…disposition, for lack of a better word."

"Is that all there is to it," Raines asked.

"Well, it's a bit more complicated, really, but if I tried to go into full details, you'd probably think I was crazy or something," Spider-Man admitted. He then paused for a minute before he added, "Okay, crazi _er_."

"I understand," Cid nodded. He knew that Spider-Man was not telling him everything for a reason beyond the one he just gave, but considering what this man had done for both the people who now stood here before him, and for many people of Cocoon in general, Raines felt that he more than deserved a right to keep a few secrets of his own. After looking them all over for a minute, Raines then said, "I know that some of you may wish to start working right away, but I believe a brief rest is in order at the moment, so I can have Rygdea and some soldiers show you to some rooms where you can rest for a little while, as well as our mess hall for when you feel up for eating something."

"Just what exactly is it that you want us to do here," Lightning asked, feeling that he should at least tell them that.

"We want to topple the Sanctum and give Cocoon back to the people," Raines answered, surprising them a little. "I know what you're thinking, and I assure you, there is no malicious intent behind this goal. You see, I believe that we should serve the people of Cocoon and not its fal'Cie, and yet for so long, we have all lived under fal'Cie rule, abiding by whatever laws and conditions that they believe are best for us. Even before the recent crisis, I've often wondered just how true the fal'Cie's intentions towards us humans are. Do they really do the things they do because it is best for us? And if so, then why turn humans into unwilling slaves for a simple task that they themselves could likely execute just as easily, if not more so? As long as Cocoon remains under Sanctum rule the people will remain nothing more than tools of the fal'Cie, and if not that, then they would be sheep to the slaughter."

"And you want to put an end to that," Spider-Man finished. "You do know that doing so would cause a lot of people to think that you're betraying your home for some selfish ideals, right?"

"I am well aware of the consequences that my actions may have, but I will do whatever it takes to achieve my goal. That is part of why I brought you all here. If we work together, I believe it may be possible for us to all to attain that which we seek," Raines affirmed.

Needless to say, those of the group who had not heard this yet were left feeling rather impressed. In spite of whatever hell may follow him in the immediate aftermath, or as a result of him wanting to take these actions, Raines was willing to tough it out just so that Cocoon could live free of the fal'Cie's control. It may have sounded like he was suggesting a course of action similar to what Lightning had first suggested back in Vile Peaks, or what Snow had suggested at the Estheim residence, but in truth, they could all tell that Raines' intention were much more pure and slightly more selfless than that. With that kind of passion backing a goal, how could anyone really say no?

Apparently, Fang was able to rather easily, because as soon as Raines had finished, she immediately said, "Don't think that we're all just gonna jump on the bandwagon that easily, Raines. I told you already, I'm not making a decision on whether or not I'll join your crusade until after I find Vanille, and last I checked, that still hasn't happened yet."

"I am aware, and I assure you, Fang we're doing everything we can to find Vanille and the last of your fellow l'Cie, Sazh Katzroy, I believe," Raines asked, just to make sure he was not mistaken in his memory. When he received no negative response, he went on to say, "Unfortunately, all we have at the moment are mere rumors about a PSICOM operation to possibly capture a l'Cie in Nautilus."

"Nautilus? As in the 'City of Dreams,' Nautilus," Hope asked.

"Makes sense," Lightning nodded in thought. "Sazh and Vanille had left in the opposite direction of us when we parted ways at the Vile Peaks, and Nautilus is the only place they could have gone if they kept going that way."

"And you think the old man and Vanille are there," Snow asked Cid.

"There is a possibility, but as I said, this is merely rumors and speculation at the moment; nothing that we can act on just yet," Raines reminded them. "When we do have a solid lead, I will be sure to let you all know. For now, you should all simply rest, gather any supplies you believe you shall need, and recuperate for when that happens."

The group all nodded in thanks for his kindness, and they all immediately began to follow Rygdea to where they could catch some rest, until Spider-Man paused and asked, "Hey, do you guys have a lab of some kind on this ship that I could use?"

"I believe so. Why do you ask," Raines inquired.

Spider-Man simply ejected a cartridge from his web-shooters and said, "Can't really do much when I'm down to the last of my webs, never mind when I finally do run out. And there's a couple other things I'd like to take care of while I have the chance, if possible."

"I see," Cid acknowledged, studying the wrist device and the cartridge in Spidey's hand for a minute. "How odd. I had long thought you made the webs yourself."

"Yeah, you'd be thinking of another spider-hero in that case," Spider-Man informed him.

"You mean there are others like you?"

"Well…kind of, but they're all very far away from here, and I don't think it's very likely that we'll be getting any visits from them anytime soon, let alone help," Spider-Man admitted, slotting the cartridge back into place while he did.

"Well, you can't blame a man for hoping," Raines smiled in response. "I'm sure if he doesn't mind, Rygdea will be able to show you where it is after helping you and your friends get situated for a good rest."

"Hey, I don't mind helping out Cocoon's most famous superhero," Rygdea casually shrugged, and with that, the group departed from Raines for their new sleeping space.

In all honesty, Hope was pretty excited to be able to sleep in a proper bed again after what felt like ages, but when he heard that Spider-Man was going to be working on something in the lab besides making more web-fluid, his mind immediately went back to what he and the web-head had talked about back at Lake Bresha, so he instantly moved next to him and asked, "Hey, do you mind if I lend you a hand with those projects of yours?"

"You should get some sleep first, Hope, and if I'm still not done, you can help me with making more web-fluid, but aside from that, I was actually hoping you could help me with a couple of things," Spider-Man revealed.

That seemed to make Hope's day, because he was smiling excitedly all the way to their temporary quarters, and likely would have had an extra bounce in his step due to his excitement were it not for the fact that the day's events had finally caught up to him. Looking around, he could see that they had started catching up to the others as well, because they all looked a little more tired with almost every step they took. In fact, Spider-Man seemed to be the only one who did not seem tired at all, but Hope attributed that to the fact that he could not see Spidey's face at the moment, so he did not say anything. Instead, he just joined the others in collapsing on the bunks once they had arrived at their destination, and fell into the embrace of deep slumber, feeling a little better and a little more safe than he had since this whole thing began.

* * *

When Snow woke up again, morning was almost halfway over, but despite missing most of the day, he was still feeling a lot better than he had last night. Mix l'Cie healing powers with the medical science that the _Lindblum_ had at its disposal, and the leader of NORA was good as new and ready for action. It was just too bad that there was no action to jump into at the moment, because Raines and the Cavalry still had not found any sign of Sazh and Vanille. Some would say that was bad news, since it meant that their chances of reaching the two before PSICOM were now a little lower, but if one were to be a little more optimistic, it also meant that the Sanctum had not caught up with the two yet either. Despite this little moment of good-news/bad-news, no one could deny that it was offering Snow and his friends more of a chance to rest and recuperate in peace. He figured that some of them were especially happy about that, given that they had been on the run and constantly looking over their shoulders since they parted ways in Lake Bresha, and when he came into the mess hall for a quick bite, Snow was happy to see that his hunch was right, because he quickly spotted Lightning and Fang at a table enjoying a small meal in relative peace and ease.

Now Snow was not really going to say he knew Fang that well to know if she was really relaxed or not, but he did know Lightning fairly well to be able to tell if she was relaxed. Or to be more accurate, Snow knew Lightning well enough to know when she was annoyed, angry, or just plain tense for whatever reason, simply because that was how she was most of the time when he was around. Of course, that was not the case when they were at the Estheim house, and Snow had to figure that was the first time that he had seen Lightning Farron at ease while he was in the same building, let alone the same room, and he was actually really happy to see that same state of ease upon her now. Sure, she was still a little tense and a bit short towards Fang for a reason that Snow could not comprehend beyond having learned about Fang's involvement in what happened to Serah, but Lightning was still a lot more relaxed than she had probably been since this whole thing started, so he was counting that as a victory for now.

Having confirmed that the two were just sitting there and at least tolerating each other's company, assuming they were not enjoying it, Snow grabbed some food for himself and seated himself at the same table. "Hey Fang. Hey Si…" Snow started to say, until he suddenly felt the cool blade of a knife at his side.

"Say it. I dare you," Lightning challenged, not even lifting her eyes in Snow's direction.

"Uh…Hey, L-Light," Snow stuttered nervously, and a moment later, the cool steel's presence disappeared from his side.

"Better," Lightning nodded as she pocketed her survival knife, making sure to keep her amused smirk hidden. While she was starting to get a little used to hearing Snow call her "Sis", she was not about to admit it to the towering blonde. Not just yet, anyway.

Fang had no problem with showing her amused smirk at the two's interactions, and it remained on her face even as she asked Snow, "So are you just now getting up, or do you think that the fact you got hit last night gives you an excuse to be lazy?"

"Yeah, I just got up, but not because I want to be lazy. The doctors here just ordered me to take a few extra hours of bed rest 'just to be safe' or whatever," Snow admitted, digging into his food while he did. After chowing down for a moment though, he noticed the lack of a certain pair from the mess hall. "Hey, where are Spidey and Hope? I thought they'd be here too."

"So did we, but we haven't seen them since breakfast," Lightning revealed. "They ate their fill and then raced off for one of the labs saying that they would talk to us later."

"And by ate their fill she means that they inhaled every last scrap of food on their plate faster than one of Cocoon's best airships," Fang clarified in amusement.

"Guess they must have been eager to get started on whatever projects Spidey's got up his sleeves," Snow mused. The three were silent for a moment after that, each with the same question on their minds, until Snow voiced out a solution for them. "Want to go and see what they're up to?"

"Hell yeah," Fang agreed while Lightning just shrugged in response. It may have seemed like the ex-soldier did not care, but she was in fact curious as to what else Peter could be working on besides making more web-fluid.

With that decision, the three finished their own meals almost as fast as Fang had said the other two members of their team had, and after returning their trays to the counter for cleaning, they headed off to find the lab where Hope and Spider-Man had disappeared to. It took a bit of searching, but they did eventually find said lab, after they asked Rygdea for some extra help and directions, and when they walked in, they were honestly a little surprised at what they saw. Both boys were at a table that had not only an elaborate looking chemistry set resting on it, but various other tools as well, a computer that Hope was glancing over and tapping away at every few seconds, and what looked like a bunch of belts of various sizes. What caught their attention the most was that Spider-Man's suit was resting on the table, hooked up to said computer, while Peter was clad in his mask, and a basic shirt, pants, and shoes. Where he had gotten his casual clothes from, none of the three were sure, but they did make a point to ask him later if they got the chance. They likely would have right away, but it did not seem like either Peter or Hope had even noticed them coming into the room, as they were both still hard at work with whatever they were doing.

After the door had closed, Hope let out a strained groan as he appeared to struggle with stirring something in a beaker, before attempting to pull it out, only to find the substance was stuck on his instrument and stretched in a way that was reminiscent of Spider-Man's webs. "Uh, I think I might've stirred for a little too long," Hope said to his lab partner.

"Did you count the seconds like I told you while you were stirring? That's an important part of mixing together new batches of web-fluid," Peter reminded Hope as he fiddled with one of the belts on the table.

"Yeah, but it started getting a little tougher to stir and turning into webs by the time I got to four," Hope replied, continuing to pull his stirring tool free with no success. "Spidey, I think I'm a little stuck here."

"Hang on," Spider-Man said as he put down what he was working on to help Hope pull free of the webs, finding a bit of difficulty in pulling it free as well, or at least more than he normally had in this case. "Man, this stuff is a bit stronger than usual. How much coagulant did you mix in?"

Hope quickly checked a measuring instrument that he had used earlier, and smacked his forehead and said, "Apparently, more than I should have. It must have sped up the mixing by accident."

"And created stronger webs as well," Spider-Man finished for the kid, taking note of how much more sticky the webs appeared to be. "Might come in handy later on to have stronger webs with an extra bit of stick. Go ahead and start pouring that into some of the capsules."

Hope nodded in response and immediately did as Spider-man asked, working as quickly as he could, and Snow figured that now would be a good time to make themselves known. "Hey you two. How's it going," the blonde asked.

The two scientists were either too absorbed in their work to notice or just ignored Snow, because they kept on going like they never heard him, and since she knew them so well, Lightning had to assume it was the former. "So how's that other matter coming," Peter asked as he returned to what he was previously working on.

"I'm almost done. It should be good to go any second now, or by the time the others stop by like you say they will," Hope told Spider-Man, returning to his computer once he was finished pouring web-fluid into the capsules.

"We're already here, kid," Fang informed him, but like Snow, it seemed she went unheard.

"Perfect," Peter nodded, and he was soon grinning a little more before he put his tools down again, picked up the belt he was working on, and passed it over to the kid while saying, "And if you've got a moment, try this on for size."

"You finished," Hope asked excitedly, taking the belt in hand and then strapping it around his waist. When he released it though, it seemed to slide down a little, indicating that it was not quite his size. "I think you might need to make it a little smaller."

"Just tap the buckle, and it will adjust on its own," Peter told Hope before pulling another belt over to him so he could begin working on it.

Hope just nodded and pulled it up to its proper place again before tapping the buckle as instructed, and the belt automatically shrank to the correct size, much to the boy's smiling pleasure. "Perfect fit," Hope confirmed. "This will definitely make things a lot easier for both us and you in the long run."

"Well, that was the idea," Peter pointed out with a grin. "Now I've just got to finish working on the other five. Can't wait to see the looks on the others' faces when they get a load of these bad boys."

At that point, Lightning decided it was time to put the ignorance to an end, so she stepped up next to Peter, grabbed the biggest hammer she could find, and slammed it down on the table. The loud bang made both Peter and Hope jump in their seats as they turned to the source, but they both relaxed a little when they saw it was just Lightning. They quickly became nervous again when she put the hammer down and crossed her arms with a neutral look on her face, and then glanced to the side to see Snow and Fang standing at the door with similar expressions, easily telling them both that the three were a bit displeased with them at the moment.

"Oh, hey Lightning, Fang, and Snow," Peter nervously chuckled. "H-how long have you guys been…standing there?"

"Long enough to listen to you two speak another language while Hope got a snazzy new belt," Lightning revealed, her tone as neutral as her voice.

"Whoops. Sorry," Hope apologized on both their behalves.

"What's up with the belt anyways, and why did we hear you say you were making more, Pe…" Snow started to ask, only to be shushed by the web-head right when he was about to say his name.

Peter then looked over to Hope, asking a silent question, and the boy immediately looked at his computer for a few seconds before a small light flashed on the screen. When Hope nodded in the affirmative, Peter quickly rushed over to the door and locked it tight, and then said, "Okay, now we can talk freely."

"You mean we couldn't before," Fang asked.

"Not if you wanted to refer to me by anything other than Spider-Man, Spidey, or any other nickname I've earned while doing my hero thing," Peter clarified. When he received odd looks from the three that requested an explanation, Peter did not hesitate to give one. "That program that Hope just finished starting up is a little something that will keep Rainy-Day, his boys, and anyone else who shouldn't know my secret identity from learning it. As far as they know, nothing weird is going on here, when in reality, it's just running on a little feedback loop of us standing around and working or having casual small talk."

"Smart," Lightning nodded, even if she was not all that fond of Peter's new nickname for Raines. After all that had happened, despite the fact that he did not technically exist here in this universe, or at least on Cocoon, Lightning knew that Peter would want to take various precautions to make sure that his secret identity did not get out. She was not expecting this, but given that he had some extra help from Hope, she probably should have. The kid did say he was good with science after all. "Now what's up with the belts," she inquired, nodding to the one that Hope was wearing.

"I figured that Peter wouldn't mind having a few extra pockets, in a manner of speaking, so that he would not run out of webbing or other supplies so quickly," Hope explained. "He came up with the idea to make some copies of the utility belt he wears for all of us."

"So we're now pack mules to carry more webs for him," Fang asked, a little offended by the idea.

"Nope," Peter corrected. "The belts will have some extra web-fluid cartridges in them, because frankly, we have no idea when we're going to get to another lab again, but they're also a better way of storing other items as well, and allowing you guys to have easier access to them. Things like those potions, antidotes, and all the other stuff that Lightning has been carrying around in her bag. Not only will the belts be great for storing them, but you'll be able to carry more and not have to worry about the items getting damaged in battle. Add in the fact that you'll be able to just whip them out at a moment's notice without having to rummage through your pockets, and I'm sure you can see the appeal to wearing them."

"Sweet," Snow grinned. "How long until mine's done?"

"Just gonna be a couple more minutes. I am making one for each of us, and a couple for Sazh and Vanille as well."

"How'd you manage to get what needed to make these anyway," Fang asked, honestly curious as to how he could acquire so much in so little time. There was no way he could have just found the stuff he needed lying around somewhere on the ship after all.

"Some of it is based off of what I could spare from my suit, while everything else, I just swiped from the ship's armory," Peter replied. When Lightning gave him a look, he knew that she was probably thinking that he was essentially stealing from their hosts, and he quickly said, "Hey, I highly doubt that they would have just given this stuff to us, and besides, as evidenced by how I'm making sure they can't hear you guys referring to me by my real name, I'm not entirely trusting in regards to these Cavalry guys."

"Why not? I mean, Raines has gone out of his way to help us out a lot up until now, so I think it's safe to say he's on our side," Snow pointed out.

"More like he's making sure we can help him attain his goal," Peter dismissed, earning him curious looks from the others. "I'm not going to sit here and deny that Rainy-Day has been a bit of help so far, but at the same time, I keep getting the same kind of vibe I would often get around Nick Fury every time I see him: a feeling that says while he is telling the truth, it's not the whole truth. Didn't any of you notice how he dodged my question when I asked if he was willing to betray Cocoon and all that?"

"He said he was willing to take on whatever prejudice he may take if it meant taking down the Sanctum," Hope recalled.

"No, he said he would do whatever it takes to achieve his goal," Lightning softly corrected in remembrance.

"Exactly," Peter nodded. "Somehow, despite the pretty words he spun, I get the feeling that there's more to his little goal than Rainy-Day wants us to know."

"His name is Raines," Lightning retorted, now more than a little annoyed with the nickname.

"Whatever," Peter scoffed, honestly not caring one way or another. "Point is, we can't trust him one hundred percent."

It seemed like that was the end of that little matter, but Fang had noticed something that the others seemed to miss when Peter talked about Raines at the end there, and she could not help but grin a little at what it likely meant. There was no way she was going to miss out on this chance, and she immediately asked, "Are you sure that's the only reason you're not a big fan of Raines right now, Peter?"

"Yes, what other reason could I have to not like that fancy-dressed Casanova," Peter retorted, his voice having a little more bite to it than he probably intended.

"Come again," Lightning almost growled. She may not be a soldier anymore, but she was still not going to take an insult to someone who would have been her superior lightly.

"Oh don't pretend like you didn't notice, Light," Peter accused. "The man was practically throwing himself at you with all of his flirting."

When he reminded her of this, Lightning blushed a little and started to say that Raines was not flirting with her, until Snow caught what Fang had already spotted, and then burst out laughing a little. "Oh my god. Are you jealous," Snow questioned.

"What?! N-no! Don't be ridiculous," Peter insisted, but with the way he turned away from them, they all knew he was lying.

"Unbelievable. The great Spider-Man is jealous of a regular guy. A regular guy who's in charge of an entire military group, but still…" Fang laughed along with Snow, and despite his best efforts, Hope was soon joining in as well.

"I am not jealous! Especially not of some fancy-dressed, overly-well-mannered hot-shot with a snazzy haircut," Peter tried to insist, his face feeling warmer and warmer by the second.

If she had not just been feeling a little embarrassed by the reminder of her first meeting with Raines, Lightning would likely have joined in on teasing Peter. It would have been sweet payback for how he teased her for being jealous of Fang, but she made a note to do so at a later date if the chance came up again, if not after this whole conversation was over. All the same, she had to wonder why seeing Raines apparently flirt with her would make Peter feel jealous. She even ran through a few ideas on the reason in her mind, right to the point where she even considered once or twice that maybe, just maybe, Peter did feel something special for her like she seemed to feel for him. She quickly shook that idea out of her head, thinking it was just silly and impossible once again, but still sighed a little after a minute, even as she reminded herself that she had sworn to not let that matter distract her, even if it was bringing that empty feeling from before to the surface again. Still, she found it necessary to save Peter from this teasing for now and said, "I thought you were just going to fix your web-shooters and make more web-fluid."

"Oh, I finished fixing the web-shooters last night, and with Hope's help, I made another spare set, just to be on the safe side," Peter waved off.

"Wait, you mean you've been working since last night," Fang asked.

"I didn't really need that much sleep, and besides that, I wanted to be ready to head out again at a moment's notice if necessary," Peter quickly stated. What he was not saying was that he had started doing some preliminary tests on the crystal samples he had taken from Lake Bresha so he could figure out a way to start working on what Hope was calling the Crystal Cure. The name made sense, since that was what he was trying to create: a way to change Serah back to normal from her crystallized state, but given that he only had a few theories on whether or not it would actually work, he was not quite willing to say anything on the matter just yet to the others. He had already figured out the basic compounds that the crystal was made of, and what said crystals had been before they were changed, so by the time Hope had arrived and joined in on his research, he was already set to start running some simulations on what he would need in order to change the crystal items back to their original state. Said simulations were still running at the moment, but he and Hope had made sure to hide that window in case anyone showed up before they were finished with all of the beta tests.

The other three were a bit amazed at the fact that Peter had already done so much in so little time, but they were also a bit nervous as well. They did not entirely doubt that Peter needed as much sleep as them, given that most of them knew he had been in situations like this plenty of times before, but he had been doing as much, if not more than most of them since this all started, so there was no telling just how tired he really was. Lightning was the first to try and express concern for his wellbeing, but Peter just waved her off and insisted that he was fine, so the others took him at his word for now. Well, most of them did anyway. Lightning did not let it go so easily. "The minute you're done with whatever you're currently working on, or with this conversation, you are going to get back in bed and get more sleep, got it," the rosette ordered.

"Okay, whatever you say, Christina," Peter relented, realizing that she was going to be stubborn on this matter.

"Wrong again," Lightning smirked in reply, and her smirk grew a little when Peter groaned in playful annoyance, a fact that did not escape Snow, Fang, or Hope's notice, if their knowing, mischievous smiles were any indication.

"On the subject of your suit though, why do you have it hooked up to that computer right now," Snow asked.

"And where did you get the casual clothes," Fang inquired.

In response to the spearwoman's question, Peter simply reached into his belt and produced a small capsule with a blue light on it as he said, "Let's just say that it pays to have certain friends in high places, like both the original and the current Ant-Man for example."

Snow had to laugh a little when he heard that and said, "Ant-Man? Seriously? There's someone where you're from that goes by the name Ant-Man?"

"Don't let the name fool you. Be it the original or the current one, Ant-Man's a lot tougher than you'd think. After all, the original one is a founding member of the original Avengers team, and his successor is just as good if not better than him," Peter informed Snow. He then showed off what the capsule could do by placing it down on the ground, and tapping the blue light. In an instant, the capsule grew to the size of an average suitcase, while the light on it turned red. When Peter pressed it again, the capsule returned to its previous size, and Peter quickly scooped it up and slipped it into his belt. "I figured it might come in handy some day for some reason, and asked Hank Pym, the original Ant-Man, if he could give me a couple of these bad boys. I packed this one with some casual clothes before we left Bodhum just in case."

"Well, I'm impressed," Fang admitted with a smile, and a playful jab into Peter's arm, earning a laugh from him and a small, jealous scowl from Lightning.

"That still doesn't explain why your suit's hooked up to a computer," the ex-soldier reminded everyone, her tone rather pointed, and just about everyone had a strong hunch on what the reason for that was.

Peter put aside any urge to call Lightning out on her jealousy again, despite how strong it was, and simply jumped into the explanation that would answer that question. "Unlike my old suit, this one is loaded with all kinds of tech and fancy features to help give me an added edge in fighting bad guys, hence the reason why I switched over to it before going after Doc Ock for what should've been the last time back home. Unfortunately, ever since I arrived here, I've only been able to use a few of the most basic stuff in the suit, like its self-repairing features, and a couple of the stuff you've seen me do with web-shooters. Namely how I'm able to shoot out a tracking device and track the signals of one from the shooters. If Doc Ock really is willingly working with the Sanctum like he appears to be, then we're going to need every edge we can get, and that means getting my suit up to full specs again. Thankfully, I've got Hope here helping out with solving the mystery as to why I haven't been able to access all of my suit's capabilities, so it shouldn't take too much longer to get it back up to code."

Hearing that his suit could do more than what they had already seen was impressive to the others, but what had grabbed their attention the most was when Peter had mentioned the name of his old foe. Despite saying that he would fill them in at Hope's house, too much had happened for him to actually do so, and now that they had been reminded of the fact that the man was here, they knew it was now or never to get Peter to spill the beans, starting with the same question that Hope had asked back in Palumpolum. "Just who is Doctor Octopus," Lightning asked, making Peter freeze a little when she did. "You owe us a long-overdue explanation on that, Peter, so start talking."

There was no way around the subject this time, and Peter knew it. They had all been very patient thus far, probably more so than most others would be in this situation, and Lightning was right. The explanation was long overdue. Still, the topic of some of his enemies was not one that was easy for him to share, but he had already trusted them all with the knowledge of his secret identity, so sharing this information would be far easier in comparison, even if it some small part of it was still a bit of a sore spot for him. With that in mind, Peter set his tools down, pushed the belt he was working on aside for a moment, and waved for them all to pull up a chair and gather around for the tale behind one of his greatest enemies.

"Doctor Octopus, otherwise known as Doctor Otto Octavius, was once a brilliant scientist back in my universe, and he was also one of my old teachers," Peter began, earning some shocked looks after he revealed the latter fact. "It wasn't anything too significant or big like a full apprenticeship, but I still look back on those days very fondly. It was just for the duration of a science camp that Uncle Ben had signed me up for one summer, and Doctor Octavius was the one who ran the camp. I still remember how great a passion he held for both teaching and science, and it inspired me to try my own experiment. It blew up in my face and the other kids laughed at me. Naturally I was really embarrassed, but then Octavius came over to me and said, 'Their laughter is meaningless. Science is the important thing. It justifies everything that we do in its service.' I took that as great inspiration, but if I had known back then that it would one day become one of Octavius' go-to excuses for some of his crimes, I probably would have felt a lot different."

"He sounds like he was a good man though," Hope pointed out, earning a nod of confirmation from Peter in response.

"So what happened to him? I mean, I doubt he just woke up one day and decided to go bad, right," Snow reasoned. Sure, that might have been something close to his decision to form NORA to protect Bodhum, but he knew that was not likely the case here.

"It's actually a bit of long list of things," Peter replied, hanging his head a little sadly in memory of the events. "Despite his brilliance, many of Octavius' colleagues found his ideas and inventions to be…nearly impossible, for lack of a better word. One of his biggest dreams though was to harness fusion energy into a battery, though it also caused him to be laughed at by many of those colleagues. It wasn't until he got a grant from a certain company that he was actually able to start working on it, along with a few smaller projects like a suit of indestructible armor, which was later used to create my old dumb but strong enemy the Rhino."

"Did this armor allow a person to become a lot stronger too," Snow asked.

"Yeah, why do you ask?"

"Hope, remember the armor that some of those soldiers we fought in Palumpolum were wearing," Snow asked.

"Yeah, it sounds a lot like the kind of armor that Peter just described," Hope recalled.

"Great, another Sinister Six element we can add to the Sanctum's arsenal," Peter drolled sarcastically.

"What I don't get is what kind of nutter would employ someone who would use his inventions to create criminals like that," Fang remarked.

At that question, Peter's face seemed to darken a great deal, so quickly that it actually felt like the room had just become a lot colder, while the others started to feel a little scared. Even his voice had a dark edge to it when he next spoke as he said, "The same company who's founder and CEO became another of my greatest enemies, and through use of inventions that his company had made, many of which were with Octavius' help: Oscorp, the business of Norman Osborn, the Green Goblin."

Lightning instantly flinched a little at hearing that name, and her mind instantly went to all the times that Peter had referred to Norman Osborn until now. Each and every time he did, it was always connected to some tragedy that he never went into full specifics about, and more than that, she could tell just from the darkness he would emanate at the mere thought of the man, that Peter hated Osborn a great deal. Such a thought scared her more than anything a fal'Cie or this journey they had all ended up on could do to her, and she was not willing to let Peter stew in it for long. As such, she was instantly at Peter's side and placing a consoling hand on his shoulder in an attempt to calm him down while reassuring him in a whisper, "You don't have to continue right now if you don't want to, Peter. We'll understand if it's too hard for you."

Peter instantly felt himself calm from the moment he felt Lightning's hand on him, and he quickly placed a hand over hers in thanks before he said, "No, I can keep going. Besides, you guys need to know about this." Even though she did not seem entirely convinced, Peter knew that Lightning was convinced enough to not argue with him on the matter when she sat back once again, both of them oblivious to the exchange of knowing smirks that the other three just shared. "Anyways, despite his best efforts, Octavius' dream project was not producing results fast enough for Osborn, so he started cutting some funding, until eventually, Octavius had to work without the necessary safeguards. That didn't stop him though, and if his experiment had worked, it would likely have put Oscorp on the map in ways that even Norman himself had never even dreamed, but it didn't work the way Otto wanted it to at all. Saying that it blew up in his face could never be more literal than when Octavius' big experiment failed, and the resulting explosion had some side-effects on both his mind and body."

"How do you mean," Lightning asked, referring more to the latter than the former. They had already seen quite well that Octavius was probably insane just from the exchange he had shared with Peter the previous night, so they did not require further explanation behind that. Although, she had a feeling that they were going to get one regardless.

"You see, during his work, Octavius developed this special harness with four mechanical arms that he could control via a neural control chip that snapped into the back of his neck when he was wearing it. He designed it to help him multitask and maintain a safe distance when working with certain experiments while still being able to manipulate certain variables in said experiments with the same capability as one would have when doing so by hand. The explosion from his experiment ended up welding that harness to his spine, and now, those four mechanical arms are as much of a part of his body as his regular arms are. That's actually how he got the name Doctor Octopus, or Doc Ock for short. Ever since then, Ock's been on a criminal rampage to get even with any who he felt had wronged him, including yours truly with how many times I had managed to stop him, and every scheme he cooked up was able to easily earn him a spot as both one of my world's most dangerous villains and in the three-way tie for my worst enemy."

"There's a three-way tie for the top spot on your list of worst enemies," Snow gasped in shock. He did not think that such a thing could be possible, but then again, considering what he had seen and learned about Peter since meeting him, you could see why anyone would start rethinking what was possible or not.

"Yeah, Osborn is one of the other ones, obviously, and the third one being a guy by the name of Venom," Peter revealed.

"What's Venom like," Hope asked, honestly curious.

"Well, the traditional variety of Venom is basically like an evil version of me, expect crazy, able to create his own webs, and involves an alien symbiote," Peter replied. When he received blank stares and silence in response, he then added, "Yeah, that's a long story for another time. Back on topic though, Octavius is nothing to laugh at when it comes to how dangerous he can be. Every time he's reeled his head with a new scheme, he's always applied that same genius that earned him a place as one of the world's leading scientists to whatever criminal exploit he was partaking in. In fact, he was the one who founded the original team-up of my toughest villains, the Sinister Six, and many of the other incarnations that followed after the first. Add in the fact that he once managed to start up his own criminal gang of supervillains under the alias of Master Planner in a bid to take over New York's criminal underworld, along with how he's even managed to come up with plans that had bested the Avengers, be it alone or together, and you can see why he's so dangerous."

"So super scientist goes bad, has mechanical arms welded to his body, and is dangerous enough to be counted as one of the most dangerous people from your neck of the woods. I get all of that, but what I don't get is how the hell he ended up here," Fang summarized for everyone.

"The same way I did," Peter admitted, and with that, he was once again recounting the story of how he had arrived in Cocoon. Lightning did not pay that much attention to most of the story, having heard it once before already, but the others were hanging on every word in complete and total silence. Not that Peter could blame them; before coming to Cocoon, that whole Sinister World event was easily one of his greatest adventures throughout his entire life as Spider-Man, so he likely would have been completely enamored by the whole thing as well in their place.

When Peter finally finished explaining how he and Doc Ock ended up in this world, the others remained silent for a few more moments, mostly to help in taking it all in, and eventually, Fang ended up being the one to break the silence for them. "So you're telling us that he's been here for just as long as you have been, and you didn't think this could be important?"

"He could've been, or he could've been here longer, or only just arrived a little more recently. There's really no way of knowing for sure without asking Ock. Like I said, we lost track of each other as we were flying through the nexus, so as far as I knew, he had either ended up lost forever or somewhere else entirely, be it in another universe or even the future," Peter explained. "There was really no way of knowing for sure where he ended up until now."

"But do you really think he's willingly working with the Sanctum because he thinks that doing so is helping to save the world," Hope asked, wanting Spidey's view on that matter more than anything right now.

"I'm honestly not entirely sure myself," Peter admitted with a sigh. "I know he and I had….kind of buried the hatchet before we got thrown through the nexus, and that might have given him reason enough to try and do better with a new life, but whether or not he really believes the Sanctum's garbage is still up in the air. Octavius isn't stupid enough to take everything he sees and hears at face value, so I have to believe that there's something else going on there." He then fell silent for a moment before he added, "Either that or he was just too desperate to try and make up for his sins to really care enough to actually look."

"And of course, there's also the possibility that he's only doing this for one more round with you, right," Lightning filled in, questioningly. Somehow, she had a feeling that Peter was leading up to that, and she was not disappointed.

"Pretty much," Peter confirmed. "Octavius has always had a bit of a pet-peeve for wanting to prove he was superior to everyone, but especially me. In fact, if he found a way to do so, I'm sure that he would try to prove that he could be a superior Spider-Man as well."

"How would he do that? By switching bodies with you or something," Snow joked, mostly in an attempt to lighten the mood, because he felt it was starting to get a little too heavy for most of their tastes.

Apparently, it worked a little bit, because Peter instantly let out a small laugh of his own, and said, "Yeah, like that would work. I mean, come on. Even if he didn't change my costume that much, anyone who knows so much as half of me would be able to see right through him. I mean, sure, Ock can be something of an actor when he has to be, but he's not that great at keeping up an act, especially for a long period of time."

"Doesn't change the fact that he's got to be stopped here and now," Lightning pointed out, ending the little joking session with her reminder.

"No problem. Once we take down the Sanctum, Doc Ock will go down with them, simple as that," Snow reassured his future sister-in-law, honestly believing that to be the case.

Peter on the other hand knew better. "Hate to break it to you, Snow, but with Doc Ock, nothing is ever simple to any extent. Like I said, every single crime or scheme he's concocted has been laid using the exact same smarts that allowed him to become one of my world's best scientists. He's not going to just be thinking a few moves ahead; he'll have contingency plans with contingencies. We go into a fight with Doc Ock, being ready for anything may mean about as much as being ready for the bare minimum."

"From what you said, it doesn't seem like he had that much of a backup plan for when his little call for help across dimensions failed," Fang pointed out.

"To be fair, there's very little one can do to predict how anything goes with the Tablet of Order and Chaos," Peter argued, his mind quickly going back to his last adventure involving said relic, and how it had dragged him into a team-up with three other Spider-Men. He then paused to think for a minute before he added one other thing. "There was something else back then though. From what I could tell, he seemed…I don't know, scared? Desperate even. It was almost like he was banking everything on one last shot. It's not exactly something that Ock normally does, even when it seems otherwise to others."

"It doesn't matter now," Lightning told him, drawing his attention to her when she spoke. "No matter what he comes up with, we'll be there to have your back. It's the least we can do after everything you've done to help us since we fell backwards into this business with fal'Cie and l'Cie."

Peter glanced around the room for a moment, and saw nothing but the same confidence and determination that Lightning carried in her voice when she made that promise, all etched into the faces of each of the people before him. Sure, Fang not have known him as long as the others, and Snow might have split off from the rest of the group long before Sazh and Vanille had, but they were both still showing the same spirit that he had come to expect from Hope and Lightning since they started working together. At that moment, Peter's mind instantly went back to the times when he worked with groups like the Avengers, the Fantastic Four, or even the X-Men, and how strongly they would be when they would back both him and each other up when it came down to it. After a second though, he found that he had to correct himself in that comparison. These guys were not just like those other groups; if anything, they were a lot more like the team that he had slowly built up over the years of being Spider-Man: the Web Warriors. Sure, they all came together from different facets of life, but they had become a team in their own right, and mostly through whatever connection they shared with him, and he could see the same faith and courage in each of his new friends' faces that he always saw whenever he and the Web Warriors were all working together on the same assignment, be it as the full team, or even if it was just one or two of them with him.

Recognizing this, Peter could not stop the smile that formed on his face, and he just had to show the others that it was there. So, he lifted his mask just enough so that the lower half of his face was visible, let out a sigh of relief, and smiled a little wider as he said, "Thanks you guys. That means a lot."

"Like my dad said, we're all in this together, so we'll figure something out together too," Hope reminded Peter with a smile of his own.

"And we'll start after you've gotten a decent sleep," Lightning informed Peter, making him turn a stubborn look of refusal to her. "I know that I said I would only make you rest after you finished with your current project, but like you said, we're going to need to be absolutely sure we're ready when we face Doc Ock, and part of that includes getting a decent bit of rest. So, finish the belts, and then get your butt into a bed."

From the sound of her voice, Peter could tell that there was going to be no arguing with her on this, so he sighed in defeat and after making Hope promise to tell him when he figured out the problem with the Spider-suit, and simply nodded in agreement. After a couple more seconds though, he had to stare at Lightning before he softly remarked, "You're a lot more like her than I think either of us really knows."

She had a hunch that she was not meant to hear that, but despite his best efforts to make sure she had not, Lightning still caught what Peter had said just now. More than that, she also picked up on a soft tenderness in his voice that she could swear that she had never heard from Peter before. Sure, the moment he made that promise to always be there for her when he gave her the necklace she was still proudly wearing came close, but this almost paled in comparison. There was something else in his voice when he made that remark though, and it probably had caught Lightning's attention more than anything else when he had spoken just then. While it was soft and tender, it was also laced with an undercurrent of what she could only describe as some form of sadness. It almost seemed like he was recalling a bittersweet memory when he said that, and that was what made her all the more curious.

Just who was Peter comparing her to right then, and why did it sound like he was both happy and saddened by the memory of this person? Lightning just had to know the answer, but at the same time, she was not entirely sure how badly she wanted to know. Did she have something to do with the anger Peter emitted whenever he thought of Norman Osborn, or was that something else entirely? If that was the case, then now was probably not the best time to talk to Peter about it. He had already had a moment that was likely to be emotionally draining when he told them the story about Doc Ock, so he would probably faint from the overload if she questioned him on that now. Besides that, he also had to focus on his work if he was going to get it done right before getting that rest she all but ordered him to take, so she put it on the backburner for now. Lightning knew that she was probably just making excuses, but for what reasons she would need to make excuses, she did not know. All she knew was that right now was not the best time to question Peter on something she may not have even heard right, especially if it held a very sad place in his heart, and that was not something she wanted to be responsible for dredging up if she could help it. Though that still begged an all-important question for her: _'Why do I care so much about whether or not he's happy or sad all of a sudden?'_

* * *

It took a bit longer than she would have liked, but Lightning was definitely glad when Peter announced that he had finally finished work on the last utility belt, and after he had given out the ones meant for her, Snow, and Fang, Lightning all but dragged him out of the lab and into the sleeping quarters that their group had been assigned for their stay on the _Lindblum_ before throwing him into one of the bunks. Even then, Peter did not go right to sleep, but instead installed another feedback-loop program into the room's security system so that he could sleep with his mask off. Lightning did not really see why it would matter if he slept with it on or off, seeing as she saw him sleeping with it before during the journey through the Vile Peaks, until Peter explained that he was starting to feel like the thing was a part of his face after wearing it for so long. She could see why there would be so little appeal in that, but did not voice her agreement beyond just nodding to him, and moments later, with his mask removed the New Yorker had dropped into a restful slumber as quickly as you could please, proving to Lightning that he was indeed a lot more tired than he had tried to let them believe.

It was almost comical really, the ways that this man still continued to surprise her. Be it whether he was fighting, parting some form of wisdom that he had gained from his years of saving his world, or even his most random moments, Peter Parker remained a true enigma in his own right, and one that Lightning found to be quite fascinating in many senses of the word. Looking back, she had a hard time trying to imagine how her life could have been if Peter had never appeared in it that one night, and part of her was not sure she wanted to try. For some reason, she had a feeling that things would be a lot worse off without his influence, and one example of that was the way things were between Snow and Hope. If Peter had not been there to help the boy deal with his anger towards her sister's idiot boyfriend (she was still refusing to use the word fiancé in regards to Serah and Snow), there was no telling how that could have played out. Would Hope still have found the strength to forgive Snow for his part in the death of Nora Estheim, or would he have gone through with taking his revenge regardless of whatever happened? It was a scary thought that Lightning did not like having, so she did her best to quickly banish it in favor of silently thanking Peter over and over again for being there for both Hope and her.

While these thought were running through her mind, she barely even realized she had moved from where she had been standing in the doorway to make sure that Peter did indeed get the sleep he needed, and over to his bedside until after she had sat down next to his sleeping form. Did Lightning really care what it looked like the moment she did that? No, not really. All that was on her mind at the moment was the amazing man who was just lying there fast asleep, and finally looking as though he was not carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders; like he was finally able to be at peace. It honestly amazed her that it was only when he was asleep that Peter looked like he was able to truly relax completely. Sure, he had told her he found web-swinging to be very relaxing, for him at least, but she could somehow tell that he was always a little tense, like he was waiting for something to happen at any second. Realizing this, Lightning found that she was actually rather fond of this peaceful look that Peter currently had, and part of her wished that she could bring it about more often, preferably while he was awake.

Just as she had thought that though, Peter's peaceful sleep suddenly seemed to take a turn, because he started to moan and shift a bit in his sleep, quickly telling her that he was likely having a bad dream. Given what he had told them, she probably should not have been surprised that something in his life as Spider-Man would give him a few nightmares, reoccurring or otherwise, and it would probably be less shocking if he did not have a nightmare or two about his current situation since he first came to Cocoon, or even after they had all met Madame Web, but all the same, it was still a worrying sight to Lightning. Eventually, he heard him start muttering a little in his sleep, and while most of it was incoherent, she was able to make out a word or two every so often. The most common being a constant "I'm sorry", and occasionally she heard him begging every now and then, but the one that really got to her when she heard him mutter, "Don't leave me."

That last one definitely struck a chord with Lightning, one that stirred up some memories from her childhood that she had almost all but forgotten about until now, and before she knew what she was doing, she was scooting closer until she was at that the point where she was close to practically sitting on top of him, and placing one hand on his while her other hand began running through his soft, brown hair in a slow, soothing manner. That seemed to slowly calm him down a bit, and she then went on to softly whisper, "I won't leave you. I won't. Just…just please, stay with me."

That little statement seemed to do the trick, as Peter instantly settled down completely, and for a moment, Lightning could have sworn she felt his hand grasp hers in return She was tempted to look down and see if he was subconsciously doing so, but her eyes just would not leave his peaceful, admittedly handsome face, and even though he had settled, she could not help but continue to run her fingers through his hair for whatever reason. At that moment, she was not Lightning Farron, the hardened ex-soldier who had given up nearly everything in her life to support herself and her sister. She was just a young woman who wanted nothing more than to be there for the one person who meant as much if not more to her than even Serah. This was what did it. That was when she finally had the confirmation that she had needed to prove what she had already at least suspected, even in the back of her mind: Lightning Farron was in love with Peter Parker, the spectacular Spider-Man.

"Well, isn't that sweet," a certain Pulsian cooed, teasingly, startling Lightning out of the moment when she did.

When she turned around and saw Fang standing in the door with a wide, knowing smirk on her face, Lightning instantly jumped up from where she was sitting, her face burning as hot as a furnace, and she was quickly trying to look anywhere other than at Fang or the sleeping, handsome man that was just a few feet away from her, while attempting to sputter any kind of excuse. Eventually, she just gave up, and sighed in defeat, "How long have you been standing there?"

"Long enough, Light," Fang remarked, her smirk not vanishing in the slightest, even as she strolled into the room. She then glanced over at Peter for a minute, and grinned a little before saying, "Seems our resident spider has caught you well in his web, and he doesn't even know it." She then turned her gaze to Lightning, seemed to study her for a minute, and then said, "And you've only just acknowledged it, haven't you?"

"And you're not going to breathe a word of it to anyone if you want to be in one piece when you finally reunite with Vanille," Lightning warned the Pulsian.

Fang cocked an eyebrow at that, honestly confused as to why Lightning would want to keep that secret. "I wasn't planning on telling him for you, Light. That's your job."

"And it's one I'm not going to take for a good long time," Lightning retorted, drawing a disbelieving look from Fang. "If I tell him about this, and he doesn't feel the same way it will ruin everything between us. Right now, we can't afford to have any kind of problems in our group."

"So then, once this is over, you'll tell him," Fang asked, only for Lightning to say nothing. "Do you plan on ever telling him at all?"

"Is there a reason you came in here, besides just spying on me so that you could find something to make fun of," Lightning asked, dodging Fang's question and yet still answering it for Fang all the same.

Fang did not like what Lightning was planning to do here at all, because in her opinion, it was just not right. "I was actually coming to wake the web-head. Hope says he figured out why that suit of his was not working right."

"He's barely even been sleeping for that long though," Lightning protested.

"Guess you were too enamored with your handsome knight in spider armor to notice that it's been a few hours now," Fang told her, and upon checking the clock, Lightning found out that Fang was being truthful about that at least. Sighing in defeat, the rosette moved to wake up Peter, only to pause when Fang suddenly said something that was surprisingly serious for her. "You really should tell him how you feel. In our situation, it's important to get stuff like that off your chest, otherwise it'll weigh you down a lot when it matters most. Not a great idea to have baggage when you go into a big fight. Besides, there's a good chance he feels the same way about you."

Lightning paused only for a moment after hearing that, and when the moment had passed, she just returned to her task of waking up Peter. Fang may not have liked her decision, but Lightning did not care, because it was her decision to make. Despite coming to terms with how she felt, she still believed that Peter could not possibly feel the same way about her. Sure, it might be a little shallow or even stupid to think that Peter could not like her because of what everyone else likely thought about her, but more than that, Lightning did not want to lose Peter as a friend. She had already lost Serah, even if there was a chance that she would one day come back, but until that day came, she did not want to lose one of her only real friends as well. So, she would bury her feelings for now, and put that kind of thing aside, at least until after they had completed their newest mission in toppling the Sanctum and figure out their Focus. After that, assuming she had not turned into a Cie'th or a crystal, well, she would see what happens.

Right now, she was more focused on getting Peter up again, which was proving to be quite the challenge. Lightning probably should have seen this coming, considering how fast he had dropped into slumber land, but whether she did or not mattered little. She still grew increasingly annoyed with every failed attempt at getting him up. First, she tried just shaking him, then she tried calling out to him, then she tried both shaking and calling out, until finally, she reached her wits end and just flat out punched him as hard as she could. Shockingly, even that last one did not rouse him from his sleep. "Seriously, how can he be such a heavy sleeper when he's supposed to have been on a team that was considered to be the mightiest heroes of his world," Lightning muttered to herself, thinking that likely meant he had to be ready to jump out of bed at a moment's notice so he could jump right into the action. Seeing that it had come to this, she got as close to him as she dared to get, without giving Fang more ammunition for teasing her, and shouted, "SPIDER-MAN, WAKE UP RIGHT NOW!"

The reaction came so fast that Lightning barely even registered what was happening. The minute she had finished shouting in his ear, Peter not only sprang up from the bed, but also snapped one of his arms up right at her. Lightning managed to block it, of course, despite how unexpected it was, but she was unprepared for when he suddenly snapped his leg out at her side, sending her falling to the floor upon impact, while he just rolled with the momentum right out of bed, and then sprang up onto the ceiling, quickly scanning the room like he was searching for any other assailants or traps. Looking up at him, Lightning had been more than ready to snap at him for attacking her like that, but she quickly froze when she saw the look on his face. It was not only tense, but also focused, guarded, and seemed to be planning as many attack strategies as one could at a moment's notice. In essence, it was a look that she never really imagined seeing on the face of Peter Parker of all people, because it was a look that she had seen quite a few times in the mirror: the look of a hardened warrior. With how often Peter joked around, Lightning was sure that Peter was likely at least smiling a little under his mask when he fought, but now, she had to wonder if that really was the case, and the jokes were just another mask to hide just how serious he really was taking things.

When he finally noticed that there were no attackers in the room, and that Lightning was on the floor, Peter's hardened look fell away in an instant and was replaced with one that was sheepish, apologetic, and slightly panicked all at once, telling her that he had quickly figured out what just happened. "Oh my god," Peter gasped, even as he dropped down from the ceiling and moved to help her up. "I'm so, so, _so_ sorry, Light. I didn't mean to do that, I swear! I just reacted on instinct, a-a-and you were right there, and the shouting…"

"No, it…It's all right," Lightning tried to assure him, and it probably helped that she accepted his silent offer to help her up. "I probably should have been a bit more ready for something like that. Given all that I know you've been through in your life, it would've been a little foolish to think you wouldn't react that way if you were suddenly startled awake like that."

"That's still no excuse for…" Peter started to argue, but thankfully, depending on who you asked, the third person in the room cut him off before he could further.

"If you two are done, I'd like to see just what else Webs' suit can do, assuming Hope really has figured out what the problem is with it, so can we hurry this up," Fang asked.

Both of the two nodded in response to that, and after Peter had made sure that his mask was on again, they all swiftly exited the room and returned to the lab where Snow and Hope were both waiting for them, the latter of which was still seated right where he had been when Peter had left. Part of him had to wonder if the kid had even moved that much in that time, but right now, the more dominant part was the one that wanted to see if Hope had gotten his suit working at full capacity again, so it was easy for Peter to ask, "So, what did you find?"

"Well, from what I can tell, everything in your suit is actually still working. It just seems to have been reset to a factory default or something," Hope replied.

"Meaning what," Lightning asked, while part of her wondered how or even why a superhero suit would have a factory default setting.

"I mean, the subsystems are all on, but they're just not blocked off by another program in the suit," Hope explained. "I just have to find that, turn it off and then…"

The sudden stop in his explanation made the others a little nervous, thinking Hope had either found or done something he should not have, or that he just suddenly had an epiphany for something, but after a few minutes of silence, it looked to be neither of those things because the next thing they knew, Hope had suddenly started laughing. Not only that, but he was laughing his head off right to the point where he actually fell out of his chair, and even then, he just kept on laughing. Curious as to what had gotten Hope to start cracking up like that, Snow made his way over to the computer to see what the kid found, and a moment later, the large blonde had joined Hope in rolling on the floor in laughter, much to the others' confusion and slight annoyance.

"What? What did you find," Peter asked. The laughing fit seemed to have passed after he spoke, but the moment that the two looked at Peter again, they burst out laughing once more, returning to their previous state of being unable to say anything between their chuckles. Now Peter was getting annoyed, and he needed to put an end to this, or at least put it on pause long enough to get an answer. "What? What is it that's blocking me off from the stuff in my suit?"

"Th-the…The Training Wheels Protocol," Hope gasped at last, only to end up laughing even harder right along with Snow a moment later, much to Peter and Lightning's irritation.

"Quit clowning around, you two, and tell us what's really wrong with Spidey's suit," Lightning demanded.

"Uh, actually Light…Th-they're not…heh…They're not joking about that," Fang stuttered, clearly trying and failing to suppress her own laughter, and upon turning to her, Peter and Lightning found the Pulsian woman standing over Hope's computer, shaking a little with barely restrained laughter.

Still not quite believing it, despite Fang's testimony, the last two moved over to see if the other three were telling the truth, and sure enough, there on the screen, right above the list of the subsystems in Peter's suit, were the words "Training Wheels Protocol", much to Peter's growing irritation. It did not help that Snow and Hope were still laughing their heads off on the floor, while Fang was now laughing quite a bit herself, either, and he did not hesitate to let them know that. "Come on you guys, this isn't funny," Peter growled, but his irritation only seemed to provoke them into laughing more. When he heard a small snort of amusement coming from his other side, Peter immediately spun around and saw that, even though she was doing her best, Lightning was clearly struggling to not so much as smile as well. "Et tu, Lightning?"

"I…I'm sorry, Peter…But y-you have to admit that…It is a…a little funny," Lightning tried to say in her defense, but it was a pretty feeble defense, considering that she suddenly had to struggle harder to keep from laughing as hard as Fang was at least.

Peter just rolled his eyes under his mask before he muttered, "Damn you, Tony Stark." He then glared at the two cackling boys on the floor, and that seemed to get them to settle down a little more, before he said, "You see, this is another reason why I'm actually kind of glad I've got no way to go back to New York without Madame Web's help. Even after all these years, Stark and a lot of other heroes _still_ treat me like a kid!"

"To be fair, you actually were a kid when you first became Spider-Man, so that probably has something to do with it," Lightning pointed out as she watched Hope pull himself back up into his original seat, panting a little after his laughter marathon. A glance to the other side of the boy soon told her that Snow was doing the same as he propped himself up against the wall, but it did seem like he was panting a little harder than Hope.

"Yeah, and even back then I could stop a bus with my bare hands," Peter protested. He quickly shook his head afterwards though, knowing that this was not all that relevant to their current matter, and then turned to Hope and said, "Turn it off."

"Uh…what," Hope asked, not quite sure he knew what Spidey was referring to.

"The Training Wheels Protocol. Turn it off," Peter explained.

"Are you sure," Hope asked, now feeling a little nervous. "I mean, yeah, it will likely give you back all the subsystems you had before, but what if there were some things that were still locked off when you were using the suit back in New York?"

"The kid's got a point there," Fang nodded.

"Yeah, I mean, what if you accidentally stumble upon some fancy gizmo in the thing in the middle of a fight that throws you off your game," Snow pointed out, voicing some agreement with the other two.

"That's why we're dealing with this now; so I can make sure that everything in the suit is working right, and that I know about all the other tricks its packing in case there were some that were still blocked off before," Peter reasoned, and he then fixated a small glare on Hope as he repeated his order for the third time. "Now turn off the damn Training Wheels Protocol."

Hope remained hesitant for a moment, but it quickly passed when he saw how serious Peter was, and he knew for a fact that his friend was going to need every edge he could get when they went into their next mission, so he simply sighed in defeat, tapped a few commands into his computer, and watched as the display changed to signify the specified program's deactivation. The minute that the computer had executed the command, the others were quickly left a little awed when the saw the Spider-suit flash a little and let out a few soft beeps, likely proving that it was now fully activated, but that quickly passed as Peter gathered it up and quickly began changing into it. Seeing him start switching outfits prompted Lightning to turn away with a small hint of a blush on her face, but it did not stop her from throwing a quick look at Fang to make sure that the spearwoman averted her gaze as well. When they turned back, they were both a little surprised to see that the suit looked a little large on Peter, but before they could comment on that, Peter tapped the spider-emblem on his chest, and the suit immediately fitted itself to its correct size, almost like a vacuum seal had been activated or something.

When he noticed the surprised looks that the others were throwing his own, Peter did not need to be a science wiz to guess why, and he immediately explained, "It's easy to make a suit that's literally one-size fits all when you have access to the latest generation of unstable molecules and a good bit of nanotechnology, courtesy of both Tony Stark and Reed Richards." The others simply nodded in response, and Peter took that as his cue to complete the transformation by pulling his mask all the way down as he muttered, "All right, time to see if this bad boy's ready to get in gear."

The minute his mask was all the way on, Spider-Man's suit flashed with a few lights once again, much to everyone's slight surprise, but even that did not quite compare to Spidey's own surprise when he suddenly heard a woman's voice say, **"Hello Peter."**

"Whoa," Peter exclaimed, startling the others when he did. "Did you guys just hear a woman speaking that wasn't Fang or Light?"

The rest of the group all shared a look before giving him a collective "No" in response, leading into Fang saying, "I think you might have that mask on a little too tight."

Peter was about to retort when the woman from earlier suddenly said, **"The others cannot hear me because I am communicating to you via the same frequency as your Spider-Sense."**

While he was still surprised by the woman's voice, he was able to take it in a little more stride this time as he asked, "Okay, but who are you?"

 **"I am the artificial intelligence that Mister Stark programmed into your suit. He believed that I would be able to better assist you in your, I quote, 'Spider-Man-ing',"** the voice replied while Peter ignored the odd looks he was receiving from his friends.

"Seriously? Okay, now that is pretty cool, and like that, Tony is…slightly forgiven," Peter gasped in awe. He then turned back to the others and said, "Guys, my suit has an AI in it!"

"You mean you've got a talking computer in that thing," Snow asked. When Spidey nodded in reply, Snow just grinned and said, "Awesome! Where can I get one of those things?"

"Sorry Snow, but this suit is one of a kind," Spidey half-boasted in response.

"Better question, why can't we hear it," Fang asked.

"It's talking to me via the same frequency as my Spider-Sense," was the simple reply that Spider-Man gave, and that seemed to be acceptable to the others for now. "Anyways, Suit-Lady, is everything in my suit back online again?"

 **"Yes. All of your suits previously blocked off functions have been reactivated, including ones that you did not have access to when you first received the suit,"** the AI reported.

"So Tony and the others did add in a few extras I didn't know about," Spider-Man muttered. "Well, no time like the present to change that, so Suit-Lady…"

"Are you really going to call it that all the time," Hope asked, earning him a questioning hum from Spidey in response. "I mean, I know it's a computer and all, but it just seems a little weird to hear you refer to it as 'Suit-Lady'."

"Kid's got a point, and anyone who doesn't know about this will likely think you're crazy otherwise," Fang pointed out.

"You mean crazier," Lightning corrected.

"I'd tell you that wasn't funny, but the fact is I've made that same joke myself, and it is technically true," Peter informed the rosette before returning his attention to the matter that Hope had brought up. "So…Suit-Lady, do you have a name?"

 **"I do not understand your inquiry."**

"What's your…designation or whatever," Peter tried to simplify.

 **"I do not have a designation beyond the Spider-Suit Artificial Intelligence Version 5A."**

"5A? What happened to one through four," Peter asked while the others just looked on. They may have only been getting half of the conversation, but they could always just make assumptions as to what his AI was saying to him.

 **"None of them were able to be implemented into the suit, so they were, as Mister Stark put it, scrapped."**

"Figures. Tony gives names to all of his other AIs, but the one AI he doesn't name ends up being the one he puts in my suit," Peter grumbled, leaving no guesswork for the others this time.

"Well, why not use one of the names that you've guessed Lightning's to be," Snow suggested.

"Eh…feels a little cheap," Spider-Man denied. He then thought it over for a minute before he finally said, "How about…Mary? I think I'm gonna call you Mary, if that's okay."

 **"You can call me Mary if you'd like,"** the AI agreed, and Peter could have sworn that it had a hint of happiness in its synthesized voice.

"Why Mary," Lightning asked.

"It was my mother's name," Peter replied, and everyone instantly understood why he went with that. Silence hung in the air at that point, but it only lasted for a minute, and once that had passed, Spidey decided to get back to work. "All right. Mary, let's run the suit through its paces. I want to make sure that everything in it is working right and that nothing it has can take me by surprise."

While Mary reported an affirmative response, Snow took this chance to come forward with something. "Hey, while you're doing that, there's something I've gotta tell you," the blonde announced. "Remember that tracking device you gave me back at Lake Bresha?"

"Yeah," Spidey nodded.

"I slipped it onto Serah when they brought her aboard. I figured that it would help us to make sure that we would be able to find her, or at least that it would help you find her," Snow explained.

"What do you know? You had a smart idea for once," Lightning remarked, though Peter could tell that she was actually teasing the blonde.

"Hey, I have my moments," Snow insisted.

"We know, but they do tend to be very few and far in between," Hope smiled, being a little more obvious in his own teasing.

While Snow just gave Hope a playful little noogie, Spider-Man turned his attention back to his new AI, and said, "Did you get all that, Mary? Look for an active tracker. It'll be on a friend who needs help."

 **"Searching now,"** Mary reported, and Peter immediately saw the search running via the Heads-Up-Display in his mask, which he was glad to see working again. After a few seconds though, Mary reported, **"I'm sorry, Peter, but there is no sign of any active Spider-Tracers on the _Lindblum_."**

While that news was both disheartening and a little worrying, both for Spidey and the others once he had relayed what Mary said, there was something else that the AI said that had Peter's attention. "How'd you know what the ship's name is?"

 **"I know due to the footage that I recorded from when you first came aboard and met Cid Raines."**

"Footage?"

 **"Yes Peter. I record everything you see, and everything that is seen from your suit's eyes."**

"You…You record what I see, or what would be seen through the mask," Peter repeated, instantly making Lightning feel a little worried.

 **"Yes, everything. Mister Stark believed that this would also assist you in your endeavors as Spider-Man since he and the Avengers would sometimes review footage of their own battles to improve for future missions. He refers to it as the Baby Monitor Protocol."**

"Of course he does, and I take back my earlier forgiveness. Plans to kick Stark's armored butt into space are now back on," Peter grumbled under his breath. While the others did not know what Mary had told him this time, Peter decided it was better to not inform them of this particular protocol. He had already gotten enough teasing and laughter thrown at him after they found out about the Training Wheels Protocol, and decided that he should address something else. "Hey Mary, can you show me that footage?"

 **"If you would like me to."**

"In that case, show me what you picked up in the last few hours. I want to make sure that no one in the Cavalry decided to take a peek at my face while I was napping earlier."

"No, that won't be necessary," Lightning insisted, almost as fast as her namesake, one might add. The minute she heard that request, her earlier concerns became much more real. She knew that if the suit really did record everything that would be seen through the mask, it likely would have recorded her little…moment earlier, and she was not too eager to share that with Peter just yet. If Peter found out…well, she was not sure how he would react to that, but she did know that if the others found out, she would probably die of embarrassment. There was no way that Snow would not tease her about it, relentlessly, and while Hope would not do so as much, it would still be there regardless. The kid had already proven that he was brave enough to join in on that a little bit, despite whatever concern he could have in regards for how Lightning would react later.

Lightning's outburst did make Peter pause in bringing up the footage, but part of that was due to the surprise that she had protested at all, never mind how quickly and desperately she had done so. "Why not," Peter cautiously asked.

"Because…Uh, b-because…" Lightning was stuck now, and could you blame her? She was not exactly prepared for something like this, so she did not have an excuse ready.

Thankfully, someone else had her covered and came to Lightning's rescue. "Because me and Light decided to take turns standing guard over you in order to make sure any prying eyes would steer clear while you slept."

"Really," Peter asked, glancing between the two in surprise. When Lightning just nodded in reply, he shrugged it off and said, "Oh well, thanks then."

Fang smirked in response, throwing Lightning a look that made it clear that the ex-soldier now owed her, and her smirk grew when Snow leaned over to her and whispered, "Is that really what happened?"

"Not a chance," Fang whispered in reply, making Snow smirk as well. He had a feeling there was a story there, and he planned on getting it later.

"All right, well with that settled, let's get back to what we were doing before. HUD's obviously working the way it should be, but I want to test out some of the other features that I already know about," Spidey decided. He then spread his arms out and commanded, "Web wings."

The minute he gave that command, a set of wings with a web pattern expanded out from his armpits and extended to his upper arms and thighs, much to the others' surprise, while Spidey just chuckled in excitement. "Let me guess. This means you can fly now, or something," Fang asked.

"They're more of a glider function, really," Spider-Man admitted. "Now this is an idea of Spider-Woman's that I agree with wholeheartedly. Web-swinging is great, but it can only get you so far." He then retracted the wings, and asked, "Hey Mary, this thing has an enhanced recon mode, right?"

 **"It does. Would you like to activate it now, or just some of the features?"**

"Hm, let's go ahead and activate the whole thing, just to make sure everything associated with it is working," Spider-Man decided. A moment later, the suit began picking up bits and pieces of conversation from some passing Calvary soldiers who Spidey knew were likely still several feet away, and while most conversations were not very important, he did pick up on one particular interesting discussion that a pair of soldiers in a room at the end of the hall were having.

 _"I'm just saying, maybe Raines shouldn't have done that during the meet and greet. He didn't seem to leave a good first impression on Spider-Man,"_ one soldier commented.

 _"How do you figure that? I mean, he seemed pretty okay with the general to me,"_ his friend argued, clearly not picking up what his friend had, while sparking Peter's curiosity as well.

 _"Are you kidding? The guy got all tense and short with Raines the minute he kissed Sergeant Farron's hand."_

 _"So?"_

 _"So, that must mean that he's got something going on with the sergeant, you dumbass."_

 _"Is it really okay to be calling Farron a sergeant right now? I mean, she did quit."_

 _"Well, she was still part of the Guardian Corps, and you know what they say: once a soldier, always a soldier, but that's beside the point."_

 _"What exactly is the point?"_

 _"That Spider-Man and Lightning Farron are seeing each other! Weren't you listening to me a minute ago?"_

That line got Spider-Man to blush, while making him grateful for the fact his mask was hiding his face, otherwise, he would have had to explain to the others why he had such a reaction just now, and he was not sure he wanted to do that. Of course, that blush instantly went away when he heard what the second soldier had to say in response to that remark. _"Spider-Man and Lightning Farron? Seeing each other? Like romantically? Ha! Get real. There's no way that Farron would be seeing a nut-job vigilante like Spider-Man. She barely even stands that NORA group. Plus, with how Spidey's said to joke around a bunch while he's doing his thing, I kinda doubt that romance is the first thing on Farron's mind, even if she was the type to actually get mixed up in that stuff."_

Hearing that quickly made Peter deflate quite a bit, because part of him had to admit that the second soldier had a point. Why would Lightning think of him in a romantic sense? She was a hardened soldier, and she made it no small secret that she was not interested in seeking out a relationship anytime soon, both before and after the Purge. When he realized that he was thinking this, the next thought that Peter had was why he was even worrying about that in the first place? It was not like it was any of his business if Lightning started to consider a romantic relationship with someone, and besides, Peter had already convinced himself that he was not falling for her, so why should it matter either way if he believed that he could not be good enough for Lightning? After all, she was a beautiful woman with a fighting spirit that few could match, and that meant that whoever did manage to win her heart would have to be someone pretty amazing and unique, and while one of the adjectives that people often used to describe him was amazing, Peter honestly believed that he was not that guy.

Seeing as he was just going around in circles with this line of thought, Peter shook his head, told Mary to deactivate the enhanced hearing feature, telling the others that it worked, and decided to move onto the next special feature of his mask. "All right, let's test out the mask's ability to switch between visibility ranges, starting with infrared," Peter stated, and the next thing he knew, he was seeing the heat signatures of both his friends and all the other heat sources in the room.

"Whoa, Spidey, your eye's just turned gold," Snow gasped.

"Huh, guess that must be an outward sign that the mask is set to view things in infrared," Spider-Man shrugged.

"Here's a better question: do you really need to say all those commands out loud," Lightning asked, knowing that would likely be a problem when they were in the middle of a mission, be it battle or stealth-based.

"Mary," Peter asked, redirecting the question to the AI.

 **"No. You can switch the suit between voice and mental command modes at any time you like. The suit simply operates on voice commands by default,"** the AI replied.

"All right, then let's go ahead and switch to mental command, but keep voice command mode active just to be safe," Peter decided, and he then gave a mental command to switch to another visual spectrum, and the others just watched as his mask's eyes changed from gold to bright blue.

When he just simply looked around the room for minute without saying anything, Hope took it upon himself to ask what they were all wondering. "Which visual mode are you using now?"

"X-Ray vision," was Spider-Man's simple reply.

"What vision," both of the two women in the room demanded.

"You mean you can see through stuff now," Snow asked, grinning a little at the thought of what he would do with that, which was basically the typical thought of what any regular guy would do with X-Ray vision. Not that he actually would use it if he could, since he was with Serah, and he most certainly would not use it on her either, but…yeah, you get the point.

"Pretty much," Spider-Man shrugged, clearly not realizing what the blonde was implying.

The minute she heard that, Lightning was immediately crossing her arms over her chest and giving the web-head a dirty look, while Fang simply placed her hands on her hips and struck a sexy pose as she asked, "See anything you like then, Spidey?"

When he turned to Fang, everyone was somehow able to tell that he was giving her a confused expression, one that was also directed at Lightning when he noticed how she was glaring at him, but his eyes instantly widened a second later, indicating that he finally caught on. "Whoa! I was not using it like that," Spider-Man instantly protested. "Why would I use it like that, anyway? I-I was just making sure that it worked, and besides, all I'm seeing is what you would see through a typical X-Ray. You know, the skeletons with the bones, and…stuff."

"So you're saying that you wouldn't want to use it on me or Lightning," Fang questioned, obviously still teasing him, but sounding like she was a little insulted at the same time.

Lightning on the other hand was starting to blush a little at what Fang had implied, and she was sure that Peter's face was absolutely crimson with embarrassment, which likely meant he was about to start rambling needlessly when he should just stop talking. "Th-that's not what I meant! I-I just meant that I wouldn't use it because it's rude, a-and a breach of privacy, which is not cool at all! N-Not that I would do it if that wasn't the case, because I would feel a little dirty for doing it, and one of you would probably kill me if I did, and…"

"Spidey, please stop talking," Lightning muttered. She refused to admit that she sounded like she was begging just now. Lightning Farron did not beg.

"Okay," Spider-Man nodded, while mentally signaling Mary to deactivate the X-Ray vision. "Let's move on with some of the features that I didn't know about before. Mary, if you could give me a list of them before I try anything?"

 **"Of course, though there are only two, non-web-shooter features that you were not able to use before. One feature you should be aware of is the suit's camouflage, and the other being the reconnaissance drone."**

"Reconnaissance drone," Peter asked, accidentally giving the voice command to activate said device when he did. At the sound of small, whirring gears, Peter instantly looked down just in time to see a small, spider-like robot detach from his belt buckle and then begin to fly around the room under its own power. "Whoa! Wait. Was that in my belt this whole time?"

 **"Yes."**

"Okay then," Spider-Man sighed as he and the others watched the drone for a few more minutes. He let the small device remain active for a few more minutes so he could get a better idea of what it was capable of. In doing so, he was able to find out that it could send video and audio feed back to his suit, which was visible through the lenses of his mask, and that it could also act as an additional tracking device. That last one was a small detail in Peter's opinion, since he doubted that he would run out of Spider-Tracers any time soon, but it was good to know that he had the drone option available if he could not get a tracker onto his target. Once he recalled the drone, he decided to test out the other option that Mary had mentioned. "Camouflage mode."

Peter could not tell what happened next, but from the others' perspective, he seemed to just vanish into thin air. They were all turning this way and that in an attempt to try and locate him, but there was just not sign of him anywhere. "Uh Spidey? Where did you go," Snow asked.

"What're you talking about? I'm right here," Spider-Man replied, though no one could tell where his voice had come from.

"Where," Hope asked.

"Here! You were literally just looking at me," Spider-Man insisted.

"Well excuse us for not being able to see something that's invisible," Fang retorted.

"I'm…I'm invisible," Peter asked. When the others all nodded in reply, Peter's first reaction was to cheer, "Awesome! Kid Arachnid can no longer hold that over me! Haha! In your face, Miles! Hey, am I over here? Or am I here? Where is he? I don't know! Cause you can't see…"

The mini-celebration came to an end when Lightning suddenly snapped her fist out to her left, eliciting a grunt from Peter. A second later, Spider-Man became visible again, and they could all see him clutching his stomach when he asked, "What gave me away?"

"I just followed the sound of your voice. You might want to avoid talking so much if you want to really stay invisible," Lightning advised.

"Good to know," Spidey nodded as he stood up straight again. "Now, let's get to the good stuff: web-shooter abilities."

"Don't you have enough already," Fang asked.

"I just might now," Spider-Man teased in response while holding his hands up so that he could look down at them. In an instant, his HUD was allowing him to see the various combinations that he could utilize with his web-shooters, along with how much web-fluid was in each one, something that would definitely help him save time as opposed to checking the web-fluid levels the old fashioned way. He fully intended to show off the ones he was already familiar with so that the others would be aware of what each could do, but a couple of new ones did catch his eye right when he was about to make his first selection, so he decided to try those out first. "Let's start with this one: Rapid Fire."

He heard a faint click from his web-shooters and a soft beep in his ear that confirmed his selection, and after aiming at a nearby, nondescript wall, tapped the trigger like he always did. What followed after was a quick series of web-bullets that splattered against the wall, and he knew he had only been holding the trigger about as long as he would normally hold it for firing a simple web-line or a single web-bullet. Looking down at the previously used web-shooter, Spidey decided to run an additional test, and immediately thrust out his other hand to fire the other web-shooter. He ended up getting the exact same results, with the exception being that he had unintentionally aimed at Snow instead of the wall, and the large blonde soon found multiple web-bullets slamming into his gut or his arms once he had raised them in defense.

"Sorry Snow," Spider-Man quickly apologized, and then returned to what he was doing before. "Hm, how about…Ricochet Web."

Once again, the earlier sounds that came with the confirmation of his web-shooters changing modes rang in his ear and Spider-Man fired one of his web-shooters once again, this time making sure to aim at the wall. Unfortunately, it ended up not mattering, because the web he fired ended up bouncing off the wall, and splattering right into Snow's face, covering his mouth with webbing once more, much to the others' amusement. "Not again," Snow complained through the webbing, muffled though it was.

"Sorry, again," Spider-Man apologized once more. He then turned his attention to the web-shooters, and started aiming them at various points on the wall before firing. Afterwards, he watched as the webs did as the name implied, and ricocheted off the wall before hitting a different target each time, depending on where he shot the web at. Several times, the others had to duck or risk getting webbed like Snow had been, but thankfully, they were all prepared now that they knew what to expect this time around. Once he had gotten his fill of that setting, he switched over to another one that looked interesting, this time via mental command, and aimed at the wall again. When he fired the web-shooter, it started out like a standard web-line, but when it hit the wall, an electric current suddenly shot through it that lit up the wall in an explosion of sparks.

"Spidey, what was that," Hope asked.

"Taser Web, apparently," Spider-Man replied.

"Taser Web? Why would you need a Taser Web," Snow asked, having somehow managed to scrape the webbing off his mouth.

"For additional combat ability, maybe," Lightning suggested. When the others all just looked at her, Light only shrugged and said, "What? He does need something that would be a little closer to an actual weapon when we fight someone."

"And that right there is exactly why Lightning is right," Spider-Man nodded. "Although, I'm a little surprised the others only added Taser Webs. I kinda figured they would add something else like Ice Webbing or something."

 **"They did actually. Mister Stark and Doctor Richards also added in Flame Webbing, Lead-Lined Webbing, and Magnetic Webbing,"** Mary revealed.

"Really? All that? Wow, they didn't spare any expense on the web-shooters, did they? Though, they might've overdone it a little," Spidey commented. "Not so sure I want to test out something like Flame Webbing here, or really any of those other ones in a lab on a ship that's several miles up in the air."

 **"That is probably for the best."** Even though they did not hear Mary, they all still agreed with the AI's assessment. **"Would you like to test the Seismic Blast?"**

"Seismic Blast?"

 **"Yes. Mister Stark thought it would be particular useful against enemies who use symbiotes, such as Venom or Carnage, and it also acts in a manner similar to the weapons utilized by Herman Schultz, alias The Shocker."**

"Huh. Yeah, sure, but try to keep it to a low setting so that we don't break anything too important by accident," Spider-Man shrugged, and Mary immediately complied with the request, lowering the power levels on the blast once the web-shooters had switched over to the option. A minute later, Spidey was building up a charge in his web-shooters, and when he let it loose, a vibrational shockwave blasted across the room, knocking over a shelf full of empty bottles when it hit. "Okay, that will definitely come in handy later."

"No kidding. Damn," Fang agreed with an approving smirk.

Spider-Man quickly joined in on the smirking as he switched to the next mode on his web-shooters, saying, "Splitter Web." A moment later, he fired not one, but two web-lines out of the wrist device at once, and after a quick check, he saw that he could shoot more than that at once too, which he immediately informed the others of.

"Ability to web up more than one enemy at once. That will definitely be a big help," Hope nodded in thought, his mind going to various battle plans and other uses that Spidey would be able to use that particular feature for.

 **"The only other combat feature remaining is the Web Grenade,"** Mary reported.

"Okay then; Web Grenade," Spider-Man requested, and once he had confirmed the configuration switch had happened, he aimed for the wall again, and fired. In an instant, a small capsule was released and then stuck to the wall for a few moments before releasing a massive web net outwards from where it had struck. After firing a second capsule, the others waited for a moment until they saw a series of web-lines erupt outwards.

"That one just seems like your Impact Webbing to me, except with a time delay," Lightning commented.

"Yeah, that was kind of the idea," Spider-Man admitted, inadvertently also revealing that this one was his idea. "While Impact Webbing is good, the time delay that the Web Grenade has can make it useful for setting traps or even catching an enemy unawares, and if I'm reading my HUD right, it can also be reconfigured to act like a mine with an adjustable range."

"So is that everything then," Hope asked. Part of him was hoping that was the case, since he did not want to find out later that there was still a feature missing, but another part of him wanted the opposite to be true, because he was really enjoying this display of Spidey's abilities.

"Nope, there is one other feature on my web-shooters that I need to confirm is reactivated, and it's one of the most important," Spider-Man revealed, and he immediately gave the necessary mental command to activate that feature. After he had, he aimed his web-shooter towards the wall again, tapped the trigger, and grinned at the sight of what followed next. The others were a little less impressed, because from where they were standing, nothing had happened, at least until they noticed a small light being emitted from the wrist device. Looking towards the wall, they all had to deadpan a little at the sight of a large projection that looked like Spidey's mask.

"Really? The most important feature is a glorified flashlight that looks like your mask," Lightning asked.

"Hey, don't insult the Spider-Signal. It's a classic piece of equipment that's actually been very handy in the past. Both for adding some light to very dark places, and occasionally, once I modified it, acting as a UV light for getting forensic evidence," Spidey defended. He then paused for a moment, and then added, "Plus it looks really cool."

"Yeah, he's got a point there. Maybe I should consider getting a special signal like that for NORA," Snow admitted, his hand already going to his chin in thought as he ran a couple of ideas for such a signal through his head. "How'd you come up with it, anyway?"

"I got the idea from a comic book and thought it was cool," Spider-Man admitted.

"Of course you did," Lightning deadpanned with a roll of her eyes, one that Fang and Hope both had to share, even if the latter did share a similar opinion to Snow's.

Peter could have come up with a clever retort to that remark, and he likely would have too, but just when he was about to try, the group found themselves being interrupted when someone suddenly knocked at the door to the lab. After a quick exchange of glances, the group all nodded to each other, silently agreeing that they would keep their cards close to the vest when it came to the upgrades that Spidey had just given himself, feeling that it would be better safe than sorry if Spider-Man was right to be suspicious of Raines, even if there was a chance that he was just jealous of the guy. After Hope deactivated the program that prevented the Cavalry's security systems from seeing or hearing what they were actually doing, Lightning answered the door and found Rygdea on the other side.

"Raines wants to see you guys in the hangar. Says that there's something you need to see regarding your friends," Rygdea informed them. That alone was all that Fang needed to hear to rush out of the room ahead of the gang, while the others were left to follow in her wake as quickly as they could. It was not exactly easy to keep up with Fang though, and that just added further proof on how badly she wanted to find Vanille.

When they finally arrived in the hangar, they saw Raines standing before one of the video screens, all of which were currently playing the same news report, and their arrival gave Raines his cue to say, "We had received intel on this moments ago, and it's going public now."

With that said, they all turned their attention to the news story and gave it their full attention as the reporter spoke, while a massive ship came into view on the screen. _"There she is. The_ Palamecia _, pride of the Sanctum Skyfleet! This mighty flagship currently serves as a prison for the l'Cie apprehended in Nautilus."_

"Well, if nothing else, this does prove that Sazh and Vanille were in Nautilus," Spidey commented, trying to find the silver lining in the otherwise bad news. After all, there was only one reason that any of them could think of as to why the two would be on such a ship right now.

Spider-Man's comment went somewhat ignored, but mostly because everyone was too focused on what the news anchor was currently saying. _"The l'Cie will face official sentencing upon the convoy's arrival in the capital."_

"So what's with the freak show," Snow demanded, knowing that any trial or sentencing would just be a farce to cover up how his friends were going to be killed for no reason beyond the fact that they were l'Cie.

"So the Primarch can stand in judgment of the villainous l'Cie, with their execution as the climax," Raines replied, his eyes narrowing at the screen in distaste of this knowledge. "The people will cheer their demise, and fal'Cie dominion will be undisputed."

"All part of the plan," Lightning questioned, though it sounded slightly more like a statement.

"Yes, but it also presents an opportunity," Raines revealed as he turned his full attention back to the news report.

 _"In a display of unwavering dedication to duty, the Primarch himself has boarded the_ Palamecia _, and focused his personal attention on resolving the Pulse crisis."_

"Wow. How much more obvious can you get," Spider-Man sarcastically questioned.

"No kidding. They're baiting us. Trying to draw us out," Fang agreed, while explaining it better for those who probably would not be able to get it.

"Bait, huh," Snow questioned.

"Yeah, that's right: 'Here are your friends. Come and get 'em,'" Lightning elaborated, a disgusted look on her face. She always hated hostage situations, even during her time in the Guardian Corps, but having her own friends being in such a position was really getting Lightning ticked off. Glancing over to her masked companion, she could tell that it was getting under Spidey's skin as well, even if he did not really show it in any obvious manner.

"The worst part is that they likely know we're not going to just abandon them. In fact, they're probably counting on us trying to mount a rescue so that they can capture the rest of us, kill all of us at once for the whole of Cocoon to see, or just further anti-Pulse attitudes with our attack as an example of how dangerous anything from Pulse is," Spider-Man then pointed out, the eyes of his mask narrowing little by little with every word he spoke. Even after all these years, Spidey still hated being in situations like this, but he knew that there was only one way to really deal with them.

Apparently, Snow shared the web-head's sentiment on how to handle this situation, because he immediately stepped up and smacked his fists together with a grin as he said, "Well, if they're daring us to mount a rescue, I'll take that action. All in."

That answer definitely satisfied the two leaders of the Cavalry, and gave Rygdea his cue to move over to one of the ships in the hangar so that he could prepare it for departure, saying that they would head out once the five were ready. That made Spider-Man a little concerned, and he immediately turned to Raines and asked, "What? Not going to join in on the fun with us?"

"We would if we could, Spider-Man, but the PSICOM fleet has us under surveillance," Raines informed him. "Though that does play to our advantage. While they're busy watching the _Lindblum_ , you can slip aboard the _Palamecia_. When the time is right, our brigade will launch an all-out assault to back you up."

"And how will you know when the time is right," Spider-Man questioned. He was testing Raines, and even from the corner of his eye, he could that Lightning was able to recognize that, at least if her cross expression was anything to go by.

"Don't worry. You have my word that I will be there to assist you when the moment comes," Raines assured the web-head.

Spider-Man was no fool. He could tell very easily when someone was dodging a question, and Raines had done just that, even if it seemed like he was trying to reassure him and the others. That just went on to add further proof that Raines was up to something other than what he claimed, but now was not the time to question him on that. Right now, they needed to rescue Sazh and Vanille, and they needed the Cavalry's help to do that, so it was better to go after the evil that they knew and worry about the one they did not later. Peter hated having to make those kind of compromises, but he still followed after the others as they headed towards Rygdea's craft.

"You know, you can at least try to keep your suspicions to yourself," Lightning admonished Peter once they were out of earshot from Raines.

"Even if he is already aware of my suspicions, I doubt he's too concerned," Spidey easily shot back. "He's definitely hiding something. I can feel it."

"Worry about that later," Snow cut in. "Right now, rescuing Sazh and Vanille is our top priority. We've got to play it smart this time; no charging in without a plan."

At that point, Lightning could not help herself. She just had to stare at Snow like he had grown a second head as she asked, "Did you, Snow Villiers, of all people, just say that we needed to have a plan?"

"Heh, yeah, I guess I did," Snow chuckled. "Just listen to me talking strategy. Think you and Spidey are starting to rub off on me a little, Sis."

"I'm not your sister," Lightning told him, tiredly.

"Yet," Spidey coughed once again.

"Come on, let's get this show on the road, already. I've finally found Vanille again, and I'll be damned if I'm just gonna stand around while she's in trouble," Fang called back to them, prompting the three to turn and see that she and Hope had already gotten a little ways ahead of them, while also stopping Lightning from starting to raise a fist to hit Spidey for that last remark. They could all see that the spearwoman was eager to get moving in order to save her friend, and it was definitely a bad idea to keep her waiting for long, so they just rushed ahead until they all came to a stop next to Rygdea as he flicked on the lights over their transport.

"This baby back here's a PSICOM vessel, and it'll deliver you to the _Palamecia_ ," Rygdea explained.

"Oh, we're cargo now," Snow asked, his tone showing that he was not okay with that idea.

"A parting gift to our rotting government. Take those PSICOM guys apart," Rygdea corrected, eagerly.

"And we're supposed to take on all of them? I think the whole division's on board," Lightning pointed out. She may be willing to jump into a situation with limited to no information on what she was getting into, but even she was never that suicidal.

"What's the matter, Clarice? Losing your nerve, already," Spider-Man teased, knowing it would not only get a rise out of Lightning, but also get her courage up a little more.

"Please, you wish that was the case. I just don't want to have to worry about needing to save you even more than I already have," Lightning scoffed. "By the way, wrong again."

Spider-Man just huffed in playful annoyance, but still smirked as he said, "Oh really? Remind me, what's the score now? Six to four in my favor?"

"It may be in your favor, but it's actually six to five, Web-Head," Lightning corrected.

Snow and Fang just looked on at the two, both amused by how they were clearly flirting without even realizing it, and a bit confused as to what they were talking about in regards to a score count. When they ended up looking to Hope for clarification, the boy just said, "Don't ask. It'll just give you more of a headache."

"Well either way, I don't care how many lackeys they've got on that thing. Bring 'em on! Vanille's in there," Fang insisted in an attempt to steer the conversation back on track.

"Don't worry, we'll get her out before you know it," Spider-Man promised.

"Yeah, and until then, I'm sure she's fine for the moment. Vanille's tougher than I could ever be," Hope reassured Fang, while worrying Lightning and Peter a little with the latter statement.

"Hope, are you scared," Lightning asked, taking it upon herself to be the one to ask. After all, they did not necessarily have to make him come if he did not want to. Besides, out of all of them, as far as they knew, Hope was the only one who had someone to go back to at the moment, assuming they survived all of this.

Hope did not even need to think about his answer. "Yeah, I'm terrified, and since it's better to be scared, I guess that means I'll be less likely to make very many mistakes. Besides, I'll be okay. Because I have you, and Spidey." He then turned to the other two and added, "And this guy, and Fang. We're all in this mess. We've got to stick together."

"And we will. We've come too far in this whole insanity to give up now, so we might as well see it through to the end," Spider-Man determined, and everyone could only grin in agreement with both him and the kid.

"Heh, right, enough with the bonding. It's go time," Rygdea said, putting an end to the little moment that the five were having.

"Hey, whoa, whoa, whoa. Who put you in charge of our team? If anything, one of us should get the big line," Spider-Man quipped a minute later, waving a hand between himself and his four friends at the end.

"He has a point, so how about you give it to us, Spidey," Snow suggested.

"Yeah, how about…Wait, me?"

"Who else," Hope asked, grinning a little when he did.

"Well…uh…Why not Lightning? I mean, she is kind of like the leader of this little group, right," Spider-Man suggested.

"Since when," Lightning asked, and before she knew it, she was running into a very passionate argument in favor of why someone else had been the leader of their group instead of her. "You've been the one who's helped us all keep our cool and taken point for a majority of the time since we all ended up in this mess together. You helped talk me down from going down a bad path when I was at my lowest. You're the one who helped Hope to understand that there was a better way to handle his mother's death than taking revenge. You're the one who figured out that Doc Ock was behind the Sanctum's newest weaponry, who will be able to give us a major advantage for when we face him, and who knows the weak points in the weaponry and tech that he's providing the Sanctum with. If anyone is the leader of this team, then there's no question that it's you, Spider-Man."

Peter was stunned silent, and as such, he could do nothing more than stare at Lightning in response to all that she had just said. While he would not deny any of the things she mentioned, he did not think that his contributions were really that big of a deal. All he really did was offer a few words of wisdom and be a friend to these guys, simple as that, but then again, after turning off his modest nature for a moment, he could see why Lightning had a point. Still, he had to ask, "Are you sure that you guys want me to be the leader here?"

"Hey, you've kept them alive by doing what you do for this long, haven't you? And besides, it's not like we're not returning the favor every step of the way," Fang pointed out.

"I'd definitely follow you into the jaws of death any day, Spidey," Snow nodded.

"We've got your back because we know we can count on you to have ours," Hope assured him.

When he then locked eyes with the last person in their group, Peter simply stared at Lightning for a moment until she finally nodded with a confident smile on her face, and he could feel a thankful smile of his own stretching across his own face. You couldn't blame him either. They were all so sure about this, and they all made it quite clear that they had his back no matter what so long as he was willing to take charge in this, so who was he to deny them this little wish. "Thanks you guys," Spider-Man finally nodded after a minute. He then cleared his throat and said, "All right then; Spider-Friends, go for it!"

The minute those words had left Spidey's mouth, the confident looks he was getting from his friends turned to stunned disbelief, or just became simply blank, until Snow asked, "Tell me that was not the best you could come up with."

Knowing that it had to be bad if even Snow was saying that, Peter instantly defended, "Hey, it was the only thing that came to mind off the top of my head." He then paused for a moment to see if that would get him any help, but when the others' expressions remained unchanged, he just sighed, "I'll work on something better."

"Please do," Lightning insisted, and she soon joined Spider-Man in leading the march to board the vessel that would take them to save their friends.

The two leaders of the group had to smirk a little as they heard Snow teasingly ask Hope, "What do you mean, 'this guy'?", because they knew it showed that the two boys had come a long way from where they were before, and that just made them all the more confident that they would succeed in their mission. They were going to get back their friends and stop the Sanctum, no matter what it took.

* * *

"Meh, still not impressed," Spider-Man shrugged when they came into visual range of the _Palamecia_ , barely paying that much attention to what Rygdea was saying as he tried to get clearance for them to land.

"Seriously? How are you not impressed with that? This is the flagship of the Skyfleet, and it's a ship that the Primarch himself is not just currently aboard, but also normally uses quite a bit when he leaves Eden," Snow asked, pointing out just a few reasons why he should be impressed. "Besides, aren't you even a little curious as to what's under this thing's hood?"

"Well, yeah, it is a nice ship, and I would like to see what makes it tick, but that's pretty much it for me. Honestly, the only part of it that I'm actually impressed with is that it might be slightly bigger than an average Helicarrier, and even that's just a slim chance," Spidey replied.

Everyone other than Rygdea could only stare at the web-head for a minute until Fang finally asked what they were all thinking. "What have you done in your life that makes things like this seem so…normal?"

"Hey, when you have a billionaire inventor in super armor as your mentor, are pals with a blind lawyer who can put my Spider-Sense to shame, become bros with a guy who can get hit by a nuke and live without even getting the smallest scratch, have a super soldier who survived being frozen in ice for seventy years on your speed-dial, and lived through about half of what I've seen and done since I became Spider-Man, things that would be considered incredible and exciting to the average person just become something that's practically as normal as the sunrise."

It seemed that being unable to say anything in response to the stuff Spidey would say was becoming a common theme for the group, because once again, that is exactly what had happened to them. They just settled on remaining silent for the moment though, as Rygdea finally secured clearance for landing, and they needed to get mentally prepared for their mission. Any distractions right now would likely get both them and their captured friends into a great deal of trouble. Needless to say, there was a considerable amount of pressure on the five, and they knew it, but like Hope had said before they left the _Lindblum_ , they would be okay so long as they stuck together, and they were not planning on leaving this ship without their friends. So, when the ship finally reached the point where they could step down onto the deck of the _Palamecia_ , they did so with confidence firmly in their hearts.

He watched as a couple of his friends waved to Rygdea as his ship flew away, but Peter still paid it little mind, because the moment he had set foot on the _Palamecia_ , he could feel a faint hum from his Spider-Sense. That did not come as much of a surprise. Like Lightning had said before, there was a likely chance that nearly the entire PSICOM division was aboard, so it was only natural that his Spider-Sense would be reacting right now. He started paying more attention soon enough though, because mere seconds later, the faint hum turned to a full tingle, but he ended up being too slow to warn the others, because a second later, they all heard a voice speaking over the ship's intercom, saying, _"Code Red! Repeat: Code Red! Attention all crew: this is not a drill! Code Red!"_

"Well, that didn't take long," Spider-Man muttered as he turned to see a few squads of soldiers running down the deck towards them.

"All right. Let's tear 'em up," Snow grinned excitedly, his fists already raised up to show he was ready for a fight, with Hope falling in right behind as he unfolded his boomerang.

"We're here for Vanille and Sazh. Stay focused," Lightning cautioned both the blonde and the group while she unfurled her gunblade as Fang spun out her staff for action.

"She's right. We can't let these guys distract us," Spider-Man agreed as he slowly dropped into his own battle stance, and he soon found himself easily slipping into his newly elected role quite easily when he began giving out orders to the group. "Either restrain or take them out as quick as possible. The main priority is to keep moving forward no matter who or what gets in the way, but we'll need to make sure these guys don't invite anymore of their friends to this party. Snow, try to freeze as many of them in place as you can. Hope, try to trip them up while supporting the rest of us with some magic. Lightning and Fang, you two work your magic and go in for the hard attacks. I don't want to take the chance that these guys will be able to recover fast after getting free of any ice or webs we throw them in, so don't hold back any more than you have to."

"Right," the group exclaimed as one, and they were all charging in together just seconds later, each carrying out their designated roles with incredible ease.

Hope ended up being the first one to score a hit on their enemies when he threw his boomerang at the lead soldier's leg, causing him to trip right into the freezing punch that Snow was throwing out at him after infusing his fist with ice magic. After he had sent that first soldier flying, Snow immediately threw out a quick Blizzara at another pair of soldiers, freezing them from the waist down, and leaving them vulnerable for when Lightning came into cut them down with a single swing of her gunblade. Lightning then back flipped away from the two, firing a few rounds from her gunblade at the next group that was moving in on her position before letting loose a fire spell that cleared the way for Fang to pole-vault into the closest one. After a few fancy spins of her spear, Fang was able to knock another pair of soldiers aside, both of which were soon webbed down to the deck or the nearest wall by Spider-Man, and the web-head wasted no time in firing off a couple Web Grenades that quickly caught a total of four soldiers before they could even get in range of the team. The next few fell due to a combination of Spider-Man's Taser Webs and a few thunder spells from Lightning, and the electric shock was twice as bad since Snow had dampened the soldiers with an easy barrage of water magic. At the same time, Hope used a quick bit of magic to increase Fang's strength for a few minutes, and the Pulsian made sure to use every last bit of it with each strike she dealt out before boosting Hope's next fire spell with one of her own, adding more heat for the soldiers to deal with.

This display of teamwork and coordination continued on for a few more waves of soldiers, but it quickly took a bit of a turn when some soldiers armed with Sinister Tech, as Spidey had dubbed it, started to show up. Thankfully, it was just some guys wearing Shocker gauntlets, but it was still enough of a problem for them to be worrisome. Spider-Man would have started webbing up as many gauntlets as he could, knowing they would short out once they were clogged up by his webs, but he was intending to make his web-fluid last for as long as possible, so he quickly started running a few different options through his head in an attempt to find something that would have the same or a similar effect. After a quick glance to some slowly melting ice, he immediately got an idea, and looked to the one member of their group who was proving to be the best with the type of magic he had in mind.

"Snow, ice up those soldiers with Shocker gauntlets! Or just drench them, whichever works better," Spidey called out, and the blonde in question immediately nodded in reply turning to do as the team leader had asked.

The effect may not have been as instant as it was when the gauntlets were webbed up, but Snow's ice did still do the trick when it covered the gauntlets, at least to the point where they were kept from firing long enough for Spidey, Light, Fang, or Snow himself to move in close and knock out the soldier wielding it. Snow's water magic definitely shorted out the gauntlets in the same way that Spider-Man's webs did, especially when he aimed the spells right at the gauntlets so that they would go into the devices, because the next time the soldier using a water-logged gauntlet tried to activate, they were met with a very nasty electric feedback that put them into serious shock at minimum. At least in the case of the ones that were not wearing Rhino Armor, because those were the ones who were able to take the shock a little more easily and then keep going after discarding the disabled equipment.

"Looks like they still want to play," Fang quipped as she gripped her spear tighter.

"No kidding," Snow groaned, honestly having had enough of the guys in Rhino Armor. "Any advice on these guys, Spidey?"

"They may be wearing armor that's similar to Rhino's, but it's not quite as tough as the original. You can tell because of how these guys are smaller. Rhino's suit made him way bigger, so I'm betting that in order to make these smaller versions, Ock had to make some adjustments that aren't quite as beneficial," Spider-Man said, quickly scanning the armored suits with Mary's help. When he found what he was looking for, he could not stop himself from smirking under his mask, and instantly said, "Go for the joints. The armor's weakest there."

"You got it, but I might need them a little distracted," Fang told him as she made her charge.

"Might want to make sure you're not looking directly ahead in a couple seconds then. A few face-fulls of webbing mixed in with a well-placed bit of Flame Webbing should do the trick just nicely," Spider-Man advised, setting one web-shooter for Splitter Webs while the other was of the fiery variety. Using the Splitter Webs, Spidey managed to slap a great deal of webbing over the visors of several soldiers, while the Flame Webbing was used for a make-shift flash grenade that left the remainder seeing spots.

While the soldiers were still disoriented, Fang spun into action, driving her spear into the joints of the Rhino Armored soldiers like Spidey had suggested, starting at the backs of the knees. A rather loud crack followed immediately by the soldiers in question dropping to the deck was all that they needed to hear to know that it worked, and Lightning had to smirk a little as she made a charge of her own for the remainder, hitting them in the elbow joints using some well-placed shots from her gunblade's rifle mode before finishing the job by slicing through them with a lightning-infused slash from its sword mode. Hope made sure to keep them off balance or blinded by firing out a few more Fire spells or throwing his boomerang either into the enemy's legs or directly into their heads, but from where he was standing, they did not seem to be making much progress.

"We've got to keep moving, or we're never going to find Sazh and Vanille," the boy cried out.

Spider-Man had to agree with the kid, and he quickly started looking for a way forward, with Fang doing the same after she had knocked out the last of her opponents. The Pulsian ended up being the one who spotted their way forward first, and she quickly pointed it out to them as she called out, "We've got to get up there."

Seeing that the route Fang had found them was a bit of a ways up, Spidey quickly fired off a quick seismic blast before back flipping behind the group and scooping Hope up in one arm. "Hold tight," was all that the web-head said before firing another web-line and zipping both himself and the boy upwards to their exit point. When they had their feet on the ground again, he looked to Hope and said, "Stay here, and cover me and the others while we make our way up here."

Hope nodded in reply, and instantly started throwing out as many spells as he could while Spider-Man descended back down to the others again, and repeated the process of carrying the team up to their exit one by one, until finally, only Lightning was left. The rosette tried to argue against Spider-Man carrying her up there, saying that she would find her own way up, but Peter refused to hear of it, even after she had gotten to the point where she could start climbing up on her own, and ended up lifting her onto his back as he just wall-jumped up to the others as fast as he could. Lightning would never admit it, but she did in fact gain a small blush from being held in Peter's arms again, and the fact that he was holding her so tightly, yet with a great deal of gentleness only served to increase the number of butterflies that were already in her stomach after feeling his arm wrap around her. Lightning pushed it aside though, because now was not the time for that. They needed to focus if they wanted to save Sazh and Vanille, and given how things had gone in that last battle, she would say that they were off to a really good start.

* * *

 ** _AN: Well, that's a wrap for now. Originally, I was going to have this chapter go up to the point where the team reunites with Vanille and Sazh before ending, and then pick up with them storming onto the bridge for the big Round One with Barthandelus, but after all that down time on the_ Lindblum _, mixed in with the exposition on Spidey's new toys, and everything else in there, it ended up being too long for my liking, so I decided to just end it at the point where the mission had begun and they were all on their way into the lion's den._**

 ** _Lightning: Still seems pretty impressive, if you ask me._**

 ** _Fang: Why do I get the feeling that you're mainly saying that because you shared a secret moment with Spidey?_**

 ** _Lightning: Shut it. [blushes]_**

 ** _AN: Yeah, I just had to include that in there. It seemed like a good idea, and really, it would take something like that for Lightning to finally admit her feelings for Peter were real. Well that, or some big battle where she watches Peter nearly die, but I was not going to do that to her. Heaven knows Lightning's already had enough of things like that in her life as it is._**

 ** _Snow: Speaking of shared moments, looks like it was Peter's turn to be jealous of someone who was being a little friendly with Lightning._**

 ** _Spider-Man: For the last time, I was not jealous!_**

 ** _AN: Yes you were. What? Did you guys seriously think that I was only going to make Lightning suffer from jealousy the entire time? That kind of thing does go both ways a lot of times, and I wanted that to happen here too. The main problem was finding some way to make it work here, because obviously, none of the guys in the group are going to be catching Lightning's attention, or make Peter jealous of how close they get to her. I mean, sure, I've seen plenty of stories that support that whole LightxHope pairing, but come on. The kid's well, a kid. If anything, I normally find their relationship more like that of a brother and sister. Naturally, it would make sense if Raines was the one that would incur the wrath of a jealous Spider-Man._**

 ** _Hope: Hey, how about Spidey's upgrades? Did the ideas for those all come from Spider-Man: Homecoming, or did they come from various sources?_**

 ** _AN: Various sources. A majority of them did get some inspiration from the previously mentioned movie, like the Enhanced Recon Mode, the AI, and the humorously named protocols that Iron Man had installed, but the things like the Flame Webbing or Seismic Blast were actually inspired by other Spidey-related media. The Seismic Blast was actually something we saw in the Amazing Spider-Man 2 Video Game, and I can confirm that the other web varieties that we saw here were in fact ones that Spidey has made in either the comics or other media at some point or another. It was always intentional that I would include the Taser Webs, but I felt that just leaving it there would still not be quite enough for Spidey to have a large variety of offensive abilities in a fight, especially when his teammates are able to throw all the elements around like nobody's business. Naturally that led to a little web-searching and I found a few different varieties of webbing that our wall-crawling hero had come up with over the years, and started trying to figure out which ones I could incorporate here._**

 ** _Oh, and as for the AI, if you're wondering why I named it Mary as opposed to Karen like Spidey had in the movie, it's because it made more sense for the web-head to call it that, since Mary is indeed his mother's name. Yes, someone had made that request in a review, but a part of me had already been considering that option before it was mentioned, so hopefully, this leaves you feeling satisfied, dude._**

 ** _Hope: Anyone else feel like there's a large amount of mother-related influence in this story?_**

 ** _AN: Eh, maybe a little._**

 ** _Snow: I liked that little moment when he was testing out the X-Ray vision. [snickers before getting slapped upside the head by Lightning] Ow!_**

 _ **AN: Yeah, you kinda deserved that, and it's only natural that I would include such a moment there. You see that happen a lot when girls found out about Clark's X-Ray vision in the series** Smallville **, so I thought it would be a little funny to include it here. As for the whole eye-color changing thing that we saw, I thought it would be a good idea to have that in there for the reason that was given. An outward sign that said mode was being used at the time. Oh, and as for the whole camouflage mode and resulting dialogue, yeah, I did include it in there as a little reference to Miles Morales. The kid does have some impressive powers, especially when you consider he got his powers in a manner similar to how Peter got his: you know, the whole spider bite thing, so it does seem a little odd that he got some extra stuff while Peter always only gets what's considered the standard for Spider-Powered heroes. I'll admit that he's probably not going to use that feature all that much, but I just had to include it in there. Like the old saying goes, better to have something and not need it, than to need it and not have it.**_

 _ **I think that's just about everything I wanted to mention, so let's move Onto the Preview!...**_

 ** _After a few more battles against both soldiers and monsters, the team finally reunites with their previously captured friends, who had found a way to escape from their confinement amidst the chaos that they were stirring up. The job isn't quite done yet though, because they have a prime opportunity to get to Dysley and put an end to this madness once and for all, and they are not passing it up. Spidey is not going to either, simply because he has a few words of his own for the Primarch, but just what surprises awaits the six l'Cie and the wall-crawler, and how many of them will be as surprising to Dysley as they will be to them? Mysteries will begin to unravel with new ones around the bend, with that little hint of humor that can only come from Spidey mixed in there, as the first round starts to come to a close, next time._**

 ** _Yep, next time we're definitely going to reunite the whole team and have Round One with the big bad of FF13, but until then..._**

 ** _Please read and review, swing on back for next time, Merry Christmas, and Happy Holidays, fellow true believers!_**


	13. The Enemy Unveiled

_**AN: Hey everyone. Sorry it's been so long since our last update on this story, but if you've been keeping up with me, you likely already know that I've had good reasons for it, which do include updating other stories, and completing the story Kingdom Hearts Dual Keys. Don't worry too much, loyal followers of the Keyblades Unleashed Series. You won't have to wait as long for that story's sequel as everyone has waited for Kingdom Hearts 3.**_

 _ **[audience laughter]**_

 _ **Ah, I can't help but wonder how long it's going to be before we reach an age where that joke won't make sense to most people.**_

 _ **Lightning: How about you just focus on getting this chapter started?**_

 _ **AN: All right, all right. I'm getting to it. But, I'm pretty sure we've got a review question or two that we might want to consider answering first.**_

 _ **Fang: You mean aside from the ones that are likely going to be answered in this chapter? Because in that case, no, we really don't have that many questions we can answer right now, be without spoiling the story, or without asking them to just move onto the main story of today's chapter.**_

 _ **AN: Well how about from our old pal "Monkey D. Conan"? I'm pretty sure he had quite a few questions that we could answer.**_

 _ **Vanille: He did. And I just want to go ahead and say that my teasing of Light-Web will actually be a mixture of both, or at least that's what we're going to be aiming for if it ever comes up any time soon in the upcoming chapters.**_

 _ **AN: Exactly, thanks for that Vanille. As for your suggestion regarding web armor, it's definitely intriguing, along with your suggestion for how he uses it the first time. Snow and Fang are already laughing at the idea of that happening over here. Or at least they are whenever it's brought up. [looks to the side to see said pair laughing while Lightning and Spidey glare at them both] But sadly, I'm afraid I don't think I'll be able to work that in here. Though I do hope you enjoy finding out that Spidey might not actually need it, at least not too much.**_

 _ **Spidey: Uh, why not? I for one think that I could use something like that.**_

 _ **AN: You do remember what we've been rehearsing for later on in the story, both regarding this chapter and later ones, right? Anyways, in response to everyone who was asking about how much longer it would be before we finally see Lightning and Spidey confess to each other and officially get together, I will admit that it is getting a little annoying how they keep dancing around each other at this point, but that's part of the charm, at least when we do see it, and sadly, you'll find that romance is really not too big of a focus for most of this chapter or any of the more immediate upcoming chapters. At least, not in regards to the major plot points, which we will see several of here today.**_

 ** _Spidey: Are you done yet? Because I really want everyone to see what happens._**

 ** _Sazh: Yeah, and I really want us to get to the point where we are all on Gran Pulse and find out..._**

 ** _AN: DAH! SPOILER [hits control]_**

 ** _Sazh: Uh-oh. [sniffs the air] Wait, I know that smell. Well how bad can this...[suddenly gets mowed down by a massive stampede of chocobos] Never mind._**

 ** _Hope: Can anyone say ironic?_**

 ** _AN: Sure, but for now, I'd like to say on with the show!_**

 _ **I do not own anything from any Spider-Man or Final Fantasy franchises or any other franchise mentioned in this story.**_

* * *

 **Chapter 13: The Enemy Unveiled**

It turned out that Fang's path forward lead the group to an area on the outside of the ship, and as a result, everyone was having to extra care to not get blown off by the high winds. The only thing that was more worrying than the wind and the fact that they could not go back the way they came was how the whole platform was littered with security drones that were quick to attack them the minute they were sighted. Normally, Spidey would have easily dispatched of the annoying machines with his webs, but unfortunately, the wind ended up making it hard for him to shoot out a straight web-line or web-bullet without it getting blown off in another direction. He did not really have time to readjust the settings on his web-shooters so that they could fire stronger webs, so he simply stuck to using the up-close approach and only used his webs when he was within a closer range. It was certainly a challenge, but it was not one that Peter was unfamiliar with, given how often he had dealt with similar circumstances while fighting against enemies like the various Goblins or the Vulture, or with all the times he had fought in similar locations to this.

The others did not have the same drawbacks as Spider-Man for the most part, given that they were all using weapons or abilities that were not hindered by the wind to a great extent. Hope was probably the only exception to this since he normally fought with his boomerang, so he tended to stick with his magic abilities for the most part, boosting team members' strength and defenses whenever he could, and supplying a bit of extra fire power with offensive spells when he was not doing that. Beyond that, Lightning, Fang, and Snow handled most of the fighting, right up to the point when they had to deal with more soldiers that were using Vulture Packs or the regular variety of the Sanctum's flight packs. Said soldiers were slightly more trouble than the drones, the former more so than the latter, but like the last group that used Sinister Tech, Spider-Man was able to spot a couple of weak-points that could be taken advantage of. The only downside was that most of the time, it required someone with Spidey's agility to reach the Vulture Packs' weak-points, but a little tag-team action between the two women of the group managed to resolve that. More often than not, this involved Fang giving Lightning a boost into the air so she could fire a few shots into the backs of the flight packs, right in the center or at the points where the wings connected to the packs, destabilizing the soldiers' flight patterns and knocking them down to earth where Fang and Snow were usually waiting with an easy knock-out blow. Even Hope managed to knock a couple down at one point.

Eventually, their excursion outside of the _Palamecia_ came to an end, and they were all racing through the corridors on the inside of the ship again, only pausing to take out a group of guards every now and again. One would think this would have meant leaving a trail of dead bodies in their wake, but Spider-Man was insistent on them leaving as many human soldiers alive as possible, so most of their enemies ended up either unconscious, iced up, or webbed up. Sure, there was still a body count, seeing as Lightning and Fang's weapons were decidedly the most of lethal of the group's arsenal, but there was really nothing anyone could do to make it completely clean. Spider-Man was willing to accept that as a fact and did not spend every free moment berating the two for not trying harder to subdue the enemy without killing them, but that did not mean he enjoyed it.

To be honest though, none of them were too fond of it either, including Lightning and Fang, even if they knew it was necessary, and they were all quickly losing taste for having to fight against ignorant soldiers who did not know any better. No one was surprised that Snow was the first person to finally snap at having to deal with this, but they were still irritated by how he decided to try and deal with it. "Let us through," the large blonde shouted when they came to a stop at another intersection of hallways. "Block our way, you die!"

If Snow was expecting his teammates to praise him for his actions, he was quickly disappointed, and it became clear when Spider-Man pulled him back behind their current cover and fixed him with an annoyed look that could be seen through his mask. "What's the matter with you," Spidey demanded, doing his best to resist the urge to slap Snow upside the head. He preferred to leave that job to Lightning, thank you very much.

"You _trying_ to get 'em angry," Fang continued, her disbelieving tone almost matching Spider-Man's annoyed one.

Snow just shrugged the two's criticism off as good-naturedly as he would many other things, and replied, "Thought maybe they'd run. There's been enough blood spilled."

The blonde's explanation just earned him some rolled eyes and an annoyed huff from Lightning, while Spider-Man just said, "Trust me pal, the only time you're ever that lucky is when they're a bunch of mindless, small-time grunts who are more likely to snatch a purse or rob a bank. That never works against someone that's basically some variety of soldier, less so when you're on their turf."

"Seriously," Lightning agreed with a small glare thrown in Snow's direction. "Let me refresh your memory. Those soldiers think they're protecting Cocoon from l'Cie, and the fal'Cie have them all brainwashed."

"And since you guys are all l'Cie while they think there's a chance that I'm also a l'Cie, what do you think they're more likely going to do: run away because of a half-hearted death-threat that's more of a bluff, or make sure they're all loaded up to unload a torrent of gunfire on us," Spider-Man finished.

 **"I don't think that Snow's really that stupid, Peter,"** Mary commented.

"Trust me, Mary, there are some moments," Peter trailed off in response to the AI, not that the others had noticed over Snow slamming his fist against the wall in anger at the reminder that he and Lightning had just given the blonde.

"We cannot let this go on," Snow insisted.

"And we won't. That's part of the reason why we're here, remember," Spidey reassured his friend. "Just take that frustration and try to direct it at the soldiers and monsters who are trying to kill us and not an innocent wall."

Snow smiled a little in response to Peter's joke, but they all quickly turned serious again when alarms started blaring while an announcement was made about how hostiles had been detected on board the ship. To be honest, Peter was surprised that it was only just now registering their presence like that, but then again, he probably should be thankful that was the case, since it likely would have meant they would have had a harder time getting this far if it had not. That did not stop them from having to deal with the wave of soldiers that started flooding into the corridor with them, nor did it mean that they were going to just stand there and let said soldiers attack them. Spidey proved that point when he unleashed a rapid fire wave of web bullets, pinning their enemies' feet to the floor, or trapping them in webs against the walls. Snow and Fang were quick to follow up Spidey's actions by knocking out the soldiers that had not been cocooned against the wall, while Lightning and Hope attempted to stem the tide of soldiers that were still coming in so that they would not be overwhelmed too quickly.

The last two of the group did not stay at a distance for long, but it really came as more of a surprise that Hope had charged into the fray right along with Lightning than it was that the rosette soldier had rushed in after she saw a soldier try to get the drop on Fang. Hope did not just run up and start bashing people in the head with his boomerang though. He ducked, rolled, and weaved around the soldiers as well while landing a few kicks and punches were he could, more often than not, going for the soldiers' joints. Granted, he did usually use his boomerang like a blunt weapon, but he did throw enough kicks to be noticeable for most of the others. Everyone who noticed all figured it would be better to question him on it later, because there were still soldiers coming in to be taken down.

Hope was not the only one who was taking a noticeable actions in the fight, as Spidey was taking full advantage of the fact his suit was now back at full functionality by throwing out various different varieties of webs whenever he had a chance. By the time they were halfway through the fight, several soldiers had either been knocked out by Taser Webs, frozen in place by Ice Webs, or had been incapacitated by any other variety of webbing that Peter felt was necessary to use at the given time, which did include Flame Webbing, much to some people's surprise. His reasoning for that last one was that he figured the soldiers' armor would be able to prevent serious burns from occurring so long as he doused the flames quickly enough, and a few bursts of Web-Bullets, Impact Webbing, or Web Grenades were more than capable of helping with that, so long as he made sure that the Ice Webs were mixed in at the time.

Snow and Fang were not getting left behind by the other three, as they showed when they took down several soldiers with just a few easy attacks and spells. More than that, one could easily tell that the time they had spent before meeting up with the other three was not spent just chatting. The two were working in tandem almost as easily as Spidey, Hope, and Lightning. Probably not to the same extent and Spider-Man and Lightning when the two of them got going, but it was still impressive nonetheless, as one could tell when Fang actually managed to knock several aside with her spear before spinning it around so Snow could use it as a kind of springboard in order to land a hard, icy hit from above that froze several soldiers at once. He then reached back and grabbed the spear in order to spin Fang around into the frozen soldiers, knocking them all out easily. Looking at that single display, along with all the others that the two showcased had certainly left an impression on the other three, but it was a minor note in comparison to how their current situation was developing.

Nearly every corridor they turned down seemed to have more soldiers waiting for them, along with a few watch drones, and some monsters as well, and Spidey could not help but notice that more than a few of each had some variety of the Sinister Tech that they had already seen. One would think he should be glad that none of them seemed to be using anything that could have come from Lizard, Kraven, or even any of the Goblins, but to be honest, Spider-Man would have to disagree and say that they would have been better off if none of this tech was here at all. If anything, it just reinforced his determination to stop Doc Ock no matter what, and made him all the more impatient to find said scientist before he got to roll out anything more dangerous than what they were already dealing with. The others probably noticed this, but they were all a little hesitant to try and get him to put those feelings at bay for now, partly because it was actually helping them to get through the ship a little faster, and the sooner they found Sazh and Vanille, the sooner they could find Dysley and end all of this.

Eventually, they did catch a break, but until after they came to another junction and Spidey had finished webbing up several different soldiers like it was as easy as breathing. "Have I mentioned how great it feels to have my suit and tech back up to their full specs," he asked the others as he stood up from where he had been crouching while firing off several pellets of Impact Webbing through the use of his Splitter Webs.

 **"I believe you have done so, Peter. And quite a few times, at that. Would you like the exact number,"** Mary replied.

"No, Mary. That won't be necessary. Didn't Tony program you with the ability to know when I'm asking a serious question or not," Peter inquired, honestly wondering if that might have been the case, given what she had just said.

 **"Yes, and he also programmed me with the ability to know how to 'mess with you',"** the AI replied in a tone that almost sounded smug.

The little back-and-forth that Peter had started with his AI was soon put on pause, when he heard the others had started questioning Hope on his new fighting style. The answer the boy gave was one that only the web-head saw coming, but left the others in a small state of shock. "Spidey taught me a few moves while we were on the _Lindblum_ ," the silver haired boy had admitted.

When they heard that, everyone had turned their shocked gazes over to the web-head in question, but only Lightning was able to find her voice again. "You taught him some of your own fighting style."

"Yep," Spider-Man confirmed without any hesitation or regret. "Hey, Spider-Fu mainly utilizes speedy, agility, and striking an opponent's weak points. Since he's the smallest of the group, Hope can easily dodge most of the guys we've been fighting a lot more easily than we can, so it made sense to teach him something that would help him turn that into more of an advantage."

While she was a little jealous that she had not been the first person that Spider-Man had taught a bit of his Spider-Fu too, Lightning could understand why he would show Hope some tricks of his personal martial art style and could not help but agree with his reasoning. After all, the kid was not going to be able to rely on his boomerang and magic all the time. The conversation would have continued on a little further, until a new alert suddenly rang out along with the already blaring alarms, and everyone turned to see that the nearby screens had changed color once again to match with the new announcement. _"Code Purple! I repeat: Code Purple! Security breach! All units on alert! Code Purple!"_

"All these colors…What's it mean," Hope asked as he glanced at the monitors, while making sure to watch for more soldiers from the corner of his eye.

"One guess would be that whoever designed this ship's security system had a thing for rainbows or was also a part-time artist," Spidey joked, earning a quick smile from both of the other two boys.

"Or that we're doing our job, and making a lot of PSICOM guys nervous," Fang finished for him, a smug grin etched clear across her face. Well, more so than usual, anyway, but it soon faded a little bit when everyone suddenly felt the ship shake a little while a faint explosion could be heard from somewhere else on the ship.

"Suddenly, I'm not so sure we're the ones who caused this most recent alert to go off," Spider-Man commented. "Anyone else hoping that's probably a sign that Octavius has finally shown his true colors to the Sanctum and double-crossed them?"

"Probably not as much as you," Lightning told him, even if the thought had crossed her own mind. Even so, she had a feeling that explosion was not Doc Ock's handiwork.

"Well who else could they be fighting besides us or Doc Ock," Hope questioned, even though there was only one other answer that any of them could think of.

"Vanille," Fang whispered, and before anyone could stop her, the spear-woman had already charged ahead, not appearing to care in the slightest if she might have been running straight into an ambush or not.

"Fang, wait," Lightning and Spider-Man both shouted at the same time, both with the intent of stopping the Pulsian woman from ending up in trouble because of her charge.

Fang did not stop, but she did slow down long enough to turn around and call back, "How about you hurry it up! Vanille's waiting!"

No one bothered arguing, mostly because Fang was already close to being out of sight now and they needed to hurry if they were going to pull her out of the fire she was about to jump right into the middle of. "There's not even time to catch your breath with that woman around," Hope sighed.

"You say that like it's any different from when you, me, and Lightning were traveling to Palumpolum," Spidey quipped to the kid as he jumped into the lead of the group chasing after Fang.

Hope could not argue with that sentiment, partly because it was actually somewhat true, and also because of the number of monsters and soldiers in the very large room that they had just walked into. Add that in with the fact that Fang was already taking on several of those monsters at once, and was quickly getting surrounded despite how easily she was handling herself for the most part, and there was not really any time for much more conversation afterwards. Not that anyone was really that eager to get into another fight right now, because if Vanille and Sazh had escaped and caused that explosion, they were likely in some kind of trouble, and the team could not afford to be held up here right now when they needed to rescue their friends.

With that said, Spider-Man and Lightning instantly took action by blasting the enemies that were directly behind Fang, along with anything else around her that they could get a clear shot at, making it easier for Fang to focus on what was in front of her until Snow and Hope had arrived to provide her with some backup in opening up a path forward. Once they had done that, Spider-Man made sure to make that opening a little larger by throwing out a quick Seismic Blast that sent several drones and monsters over the sides of the walkway they were all currently standing on. Having done all that they could to get through, they group made a mad dash for the exit on the other side, never stopping to fight unless they absolutely had to, and even then, it was only enough to knock someone or something out of their path when they found it blocked. Spidey, Hope, and Lightning handled that for a majority of the time, since they had the most long-range abilities, but Snow and Fang also made sure to get some hits in whenever something got past the other three and a little too close for comfort. They did let up on their little speed-run until they had finally reached a door on the other side of the room, and when they did, they only topped for a second to watch as Hope and Spider-Man blasted any pursuers back with a powerful blast of fire magic and another Seismic Blast. As a final precaution, Spidey made sure to seal the door with a very thick amount of webbing so that no one could follow them through there.

When he turned around to see where the door had led them, Spider-Man ended up slumping his shoulders at the sight before him. "Aww, not again! Like the first time out here wasn't bad enough," the web-swinger moaned, for they had in fact stepped out onto the outside of the ship.

"Hey, you could always try using your web wings to get around again," Snow teased, his grin a clear sign that he remembered what happened the last time Spider-Man had tried using said function, and since the others had similar or matching grins, they all obviously did as well.

"Oh, no! I'm not doing that again, and especially not if it's just so you lot can get in a good laugh at my expense again. You've already done that enough today," Spider-Man denied. The last time he had tried using his web wings to fly outside of the _Palamecia_ , he had ended up getting caught in some nasty wind currents that would have thrown him over the side of the ship, and his efforts to keep that from happening were nothing short of hilarious in the eyes of the others, given how he was flailing around like crazy in an attempt to correct his flight path. Only Lightning had not been laughing at this, at least not as long as the others, and actually did something to help him before he did fly too far out for her to safely pull him back onto the deck with them. Needless to say, Spider-Man had been questioning how the hell Spider-Woman had managed to fly with her own web wings under similar conditions, until he remembered that she had a lot of practice in doing so before they had met.

While the other three could not help but chuckle at the reminder that Spidey had given them, Lightning had quickly taken note of something that the others had missed in their moment of teasing the resident superhero. "I don't think you'll have to worry about that too much, Spidey," the rosette remarked, gaining everyone's attention. "Haven't you all noticed that something is different compared to the last time we were out here?"

The others took a moment to study the surrounding area, and it was only seconds before they all came to the same realization as the ex-soldier among them. "The wind," Hope gasped. "It's dying down."

"Yeah, it's stopping, and _we're_ decelerating," Lightning clarified for everyone while crossing her arms in thought, obviously not liking this one bit.

"You think they might be up to something," Spider-Man asked, only to receive an uncertain silence from Lightning in response.

"I don't suppose it could just be—I don't know—good luck," Snow offered with a shrug.

The sounds of a shutter opening made everyone turn their gazes forward just in time to see several winged monsters popping up from beneath the deck and start flying towards them, and seeing this, Fang could not help but comment, "That looks a lot more like bad luck."

"Or the Ol' Parker Luck working true to form," Spidey offered, earning him some odd looks from both Fang and Snow. "Trust me; it's a very hazardous thing that rarely ever seems to be on your side. Or my side to be more accurate."

"I'm not so sure about Parker Luck, but it definitely doesn't seem like bad luck to me," Lightning admitted, a small, almost feral grin slowly forming on her face as she drew her gunblade. "That? That we can do something about."

The minute that Lightning had mentioned that, the others found that they had to agree with her, and they were all preparing for another round of fighting. That was especially true in the case of Spider-Man, because after a quick test, he found that the lower wind speeds had made it so he could effectively use his web-shooters once again, and he did not hesitate to web up the wings of several of the overgrown bugs that were in front of them. He did so as much as he could before he suddenly had to pause and reload both of the wrist devices, but he was not too worried about getting hit while doing that, since he was able to easily evade or attack while reloading, and the others were providing him with additional cover by attacking the beasts as well. Once he was done reloading, he made sure to give their opponents everything he could right along with the others, and their enemies soon realized that he now had a lot more to give than he ever had before now.

For the most part, the enemies that they ended up facing were all some type of flyers be it because of the PSICOM flight pack, Vulture Wings, or the fact that they were machines designed for flight or monsters with wings, but that was not enough to slow any of them down. Even Snow, who was only had his magic and two fists for brawling, was able to take down quite a few of these airborne foes with an easy use of his magic and a few tag-team maneuvers that normally paired him off with Spidey or the two ladies of the group. This had often nearly lead him to almost get hit by some of the attacks that the long-range fighters were throwing out, but Snow was able to tough it out most of the time, even if the worst he had to endure was a slight ringing in his ears after ending up to close to the edge of one of Spidey's Seismic Blasts. Fang on the other hand, managed to get herself airborne on her own pretty easily most of the time thanks to her skill with her spear, but more often than not, she had left the others watching in awe as she reached impressive heights with just a simple jump. When she started going to town on the airborne monsters that she had leapt towards, they always snapped out of said awe quickly enough to return to the fight, but said fights were only a minor note in their progress across the _Palamecia_ , and to where they could only hope they would find Vanille and Sazh, and then Dysley afterwards.

Just when things seemed to be slowing down though, they all found themselves pausing in their charge when Spider-Man suddenly signaled for them to stop. His long-trusted sixth sense had just started tingling, and like many times before, its warning was well reasoned, because they quickly spotted a large, winged beast that reminded him, Lightning, and Hope of the Garuda Interceptor that they had run into back at the ruins in Lake Bresha, only a slightly different color, with electricity sparkling along its wingtips, and a pair of cannons mounted on its back that they were all more than sure were a new feature that Doc Ock had added. Seeing this beast had prompted everyone to draw their weapons and prepare for battle once again, but since they only had one large opponent to deal with this time, they were a little more optimistic about how quickly they could beat it. At least for the most part.

"So, Light, how do you figure this makes us lucky," Fang questioned, honestly curious as to how the ex-soldier would reason that this was a good sign for them. She was not entirely disappointed by the answer either.

"Because when we kill it, we're one step closer to Vanille. How's that," Lightning explained, obviously knowing that would get Fang's attention more than anything else right now.

"Well, when you put it that way," Fang shrugged while spinning her spear around to show she was ready for this thing. Or at least she thought she was, because obviously, she did not expect the beast to fire a concentrated blast of electricity from the cannons on its back. Luckily none of them were hit, but they were all understandably more worried after seeing that the blast had left a hole that went almost halfway through the ship's deck.

"Well, safe to say we can now add something close to an Electro-based element to the list of Sinister Tech," Spider-Man quipped, his tone of voice much more light-hearted than his actual opinion on this newest revelation.

"Let me guess, he's an old enemy of yours that fights using a blaster that shoots out electricity," Snow offered as he jumped out of the way of a blast of lightning magic that the beast sent towards him.

"Close, but no cigar. Try a guy who's like a sponge for electrical energy, and can easily throw it around like it's a baseball. I cannot tell you how many times I've considered myself lucky that I wasn't electrocuted to death or acquiring several, serious electric burns after a fight with him," Spider-Man corrected. He then directed his gaze at the beast and asked, "Mary, what're we dealing with here?"

 **"Based on the data that you downloaded into your suit's database while on the _Lindblum_ , the closest match I can find would be a Kalavinka Striker, but it appears that it has in fact been modified by Doctor Octavius. I'm not entirely sure how many of its regular weaknesses can be exploited here,"** the AI responded.

"Well, let me hear them anyways," Peter requested.

 **"Electricity-based attacks and lightning magic have no effect on this creature, but instead, allow it to be healed, and wind-based magic can only do half of the regular damage on it. Under normal circumstances, it would be highly susceptible to the spells Slow and Curse, but given the modifications that Doc Ock has made, that may not still be true. Also, the cannons fire a very powerful electric blast that is in fact similar to the ones that Maxwell Dillon has been capable of using ever since the accident that transformed him into Electro. It is not an exact match, but it is still a reasonably close approximation."**

"Yeah, I think we figured out that last one," Spider-Man sarcastically remarked. "Still, it's not exactly good news, since a lot of Lightning's best moves involved using her lightning-based magic, and that also means that my Taser Webs are not an option here either, which I already figured out."

Even though the news was not all that great, Peter was still quick to let the others know about what his AI had informed him of, and they all had the reactions that he had expected from them, for the most part. He figured that they would be worried about the fact that they could only weaken it with two spells, assuming that they would even work now, but it turned out that Hope had spent some of his time on the _Lindblum_ and their trek up to here practicing his magic and had figured out how to cast the very spells that they needed. Barely seconds after he had revealed this, the boy had cast the two spells that Spidey had told them would make the fight easier for them, and they all let out a sigh of relief when they saw that the beast did in fact slow down a little in its movements at the very least.

Seeing that the flying terror was now much slower than before, Lightning and Snow both let loose a couple of water and ice spells to deal some serious damage to the beast, with Fang charging in to bash over a few times with her spear. Spider-Man made his own move once Fang had finished her attack, and it started out with him using his webs to sling-shot into the air so that he could land a hard strike on the beast. After his first hit had connected with its head, he spun himself around so that he had one foot resting on its side, and that was enough to help him pull himself over so that he was now sitting on its back. Looking back to the others, Spidey saw that they were all gearing up for another round of attacks, watching him closely like they were expecting him to give some kind of signal. They did not wait for too long, as the minute that Spider-Man had jumped off its back so that he was higher up above it, the spells went flying, along with Hope's boomerang and several shots from Lightning's gunblade. A pair of web-lines later, and Spidey was catapulting down to the beast's back again, forcing it down on the deck when he struck it in said area.

As he spun himself off of its back, he quickly switched his web-shooters into Splitter Web mode, and snagged his wings with three webs from each shooter, making it so that he would be able to hold it down when he landed on the deck again, and keep it from getting airborne again. Snow, Lightning, and Fang all saw that he was not going to be able to hold it for long though, but when he turned towards them, they all knew that he was not planning to keep it down forever. He was just holding it long enough for them to make their own move, and they immediately acted. Snow came in first with a faint, blue aura surrounding his fist, and landed a hard Aquastrike on the massive bird. When it prepared to fire its Electro Cannons at him, Snow immediately summoned the power of his Steelguard spell to protect himself. It worked for the most part, seeing he was just pushed back a little bit and only had a slight, stinging pain in his arms afterwards, but at the same time, it also gave Lightning the opening she needed to take out those cannons by slicing her gunblade through them using a Froststrike. Fang came in last with a hard swing of her spear, bashing the Kalavinka Striker's head several times over before she drove the tip of the spear through its neck. Spidey was sure that was the end of it, so he let his grip on the web-lines go slack, only to jump back a little when he saw the beast twitch a little, but he did not retrain his hold on the webs, because Hope ended up landing the final blow when he fired off a blast of Fira just moments later, making its rise stop short.

Everyone held their breath as they watched the winged terror as it finally fell flat on the deck before sliding off the ship completely, dropping down beneath the clouds below them. Considering how far down it was to the ground, they were all sure that it was not already dead then the fall would certainly kill it, considering how much webbing Spider-Man had used to tie up its wings. They were ready to move on again until Spidey warned them that his Spider-Sense was still tingling, and they all turned to see another Kalavinka Striker flying towards them, armed with the same Electro Cannons that the first one had, and it was already preparing to fire them. Luckily, since they had been given a heads-up from Spider-Man, the five were able to get out of the way before the blasts hit them.

"Not another one," Hope moaned, having had enough of fighting said creature after dealing with the first one, even if the fight had turned out to be relatively short.

"One big, fat stroke of luck after another. I'm so happy I could cry," Snow remarked in false joy.

"Snow, do us all a favor and don't start going sarcastic on us. That's partially my job, and mostly Fang's," Spidey requested in playful jest.

Fang was about to demand what Spidey meant by that, if only to keep the joke going since she knew quite well why he said that, but she had to quickly duck down with the others when the monster suddenly rocketed over their heads at near-supersonic speeds. "Tease us, will ya," the spear-woman huffed.

"Come down here," Snow shouted after it.

"Hey, here's a better idea: we don't antagonize the giant monster with Electro Cannons into frying us all to a crisp," Spider-Man offered, not too eager to fight this thing a second time. Just when he was about to receive a reply to his quip, a part of the wall near them suddenly exploded and put everyone on edge as they turned towards it. "Oh what now," Spidey groaned, already set to fire either a Seismic Blast from one web-shooter or a pellet of Impact Webbing from the other. When the smoke from the blast started clearing up though, everyone noticed a small chocobo chick had flown out, and it was soon followed by two familiar faces that drew grins from all five of them. "Hey, welcome to the party! And way to nail the fashionably late entrance, you two," Spider-Man waved, easily throwing back words that the older of the two new arrivals had once said to some of them.

Of course, another member of their group was more focused on just one of the two individuals, as you could tell by her wide, bright smile as she called out to her. "Vanille!"

"Fang," the red haired girl beamed as she raced over after she had waved enough smoke away from her face, with Sazh following shortly after her as soon as he was done coughing from the smoke their explosion had stirred up.

It would have been a happy reunion that the others were more than willing to let the two have, but there was still one not-so-small problem that they had to deal with, and it quickly made itself known again when Snow saw coming towards them. "There you are."

"Miss me," Sazh asked, thinking the blonde was talking to him.

"No, not you, Sazh! The monster," Spider-Man shouted, pointing up to the sky behind the gunman.

"What? Where," was that Sazh could say before he was jumping back as far as he could to avoid getting fried by the electric blast that the second Kalavinka Striker fired.

The others were soon following Sazh's lead as they all ducked and dodged several follow-up blasts from the giant terror of the sky, until, finally, the barrage came to an end, and Spidey saw this as their chance to attack after landing in a crouch alongside Lightning. "L'Cie Warriors, engage," Spider-Man shouted.

The only move Lightning or any of the others could make right then was turn to Spidey in disbelief as she said, "Do yourself a favor and never call us that again. I will make sure you regret if you do."

"Hey, give me a break. I'm still brainstorming here," Spider-Man defended. "Besides, you're the ones who insisted that I'd be the one who's leading this band of merry men and women."

"I think I missed the part where that included you coming up with a name for us," Fang argued.

"Oh just get the overgrown turkey, already," Spider-Man retorted with a wave towards the Striker.

"Way ahead of you," Snow reassured him as he fired off a few rounds of Blizzara while Hope tossed his boomerang at the beast.

Vanille was about to use her Binding Rod to either attack the beast or tie it up when a thought occurred to her that made her pause for a second. "Uh, what's a turkey?"

"What's a turk…Oh, never mind that now! Just go and take it down," Spider-Man shouted, now very frustrated as seen by how he had thrown out the next Seismic Blast from his web-shooters, followed quickly by a quick Web Grenade that tied up at least one of its wings.

Vanille just shrugged in response to that and then returned to what she was doing before, with Sazh unloading a hail storm of bullets on the beast so that she could get into a better position. Clearly the two had done a lot more fighting than Spidey had been expecting them too, because Sazh and Vanille were certainly showing a kind of synergy in the way they fought together, with afro-haired man easily unloading gunfire on the enemy while Vanille either blasted it with magic or several fast swings of her Binding Rod that sent the wires flying out at the beast in a way that would either tie it up or just seriously damage it. When some of the wires from Vanille's Binding Rod finally snared the Kalavinka Striker's other wing, the beast dropped to the ground and prepared to fire on the two. Snow had immediately jumped in front of them and took the brunt of the attack by using Steelguard again, giving Hope a chance to cast Slow once more. If they had been expecting the spell to work on this second beast, they were quickly disappointed, as it kept moving at its usual speed, and that meant it was able to break free of its restraints much more quickly than anyone would have liked.

Seeing that prompted Spider-Man to lead the charge in their next assault, this time unloading both Ice and Flame Webbing on the beast, soon followed by Lightning firing several rounds from her gunblade's rifle mode, Sazh doing the same with his pistols, and Hope tossing his boomerang at it as hard as he could, and the others all basically throwing out whatever magic they could at the thing. While the barrage of attacks was impressive, it was still nothing next to the blast of electricity that the Striker was able to send at them from the Electro Cannons on its back, combined with its own natural lightning attacks. Even as he spun, flipped, and danced away from the blasts, Spider-Man knew that this time around was not going to be so easy to get out of, and he could only see one way to do so.

"Light! Snow! Time to go big with the thunder," Spider-Man shouted, making sure to use the little code phrase that he, Hope, and Lightning had settled on for when it was time to summon Odin.

"Are you crazy," Snow asked, having been filled in on the meaning behind those words on the ride over from the _Lindblum_. "If we're not careful we could drive over the side of this thing while we're trying to take this thing out!"

"We don't necessarily need you guys to transform them into vehicle mode, or whatever you want to call it," Spidey started.

"Gestalt Mode," Hope corrected as he rolled out of the way of another blast of wind from the Striker, and then retaliated with a blast of Fira.

"Whatever! Point is we don't need them to use that! What we do need is a way to even the playing field, and that's the best way we've got right now," Spider-Man finished.

"But what about Dysley? Last I checked, we were supposed to keep the Eidolons in reserve until we had reached the Primarch, or a later point when we would absolutely need their power," Lightning pointed out, firing a few shots from her gunblade, mainly to discourage the Striker from going anywhere near her or her friends, for what little good it did.

Spider-Man cursed under his breath, knowing that she was right about that. They had in fact agreed to wait on using either Snow or Lightning's Eidolons until that point, mainly because they felt that was going to be a moment where they would need them if things turned to a fight. Still, they were not going to get anywhere fighting against the Striker like this, and since it looked like this one was improved so that at least one or two of its main weaknesses were nullified, the Eidolons were the only opening that Spider-Man could see right now. He tried as hard as he could to think of some other plan that they could use, but before he could do all that much planning, Lightning suddenly had to shove him out of the way, saving him from getting hit by the Striker when it suddenly came in close to swing its wing at him.

"That's now seven times, I've saved you, which puts me in the lead, Spidey," Lightning informed him, a smug smile glimmering on her face.

"Nuh-uh! It's just six times! That time at the back of the ship when I was nearly blown overboard because of my little flight with my web wings didn't count," Spider-Man protested, albeit childishly.

"Well by that logic, that means that the time you 'saved' me when we first met doesn't count either," Lightning countered, her smile not fading a little bit, knowing that she had gotten one over on Peter this time for sure.

Peter could not find any way to argue with that logic, so he simply sighed in defeat and replied, "Fair enough, but don't get too comfortable with that leading position, Missy."

"Are they seriously still doing that," Sazh asked Hope as he paused in his firing on the Striker.

"Yep," Hope confirmed a little tiredly, though his tone made it clear that he had gotten used to this little antic long before now.

"I think that's actually kinda cute," Vanille commented, earning her bewildered stares from both Hope and Sazh. "What? Can't you tell that this is like their own little way of flirting with each other? It's pretty obvious when you take in the looks on their faces."

"You can't even see Spidey's face," Sazh argued.

"I don't need to. Those eyes on his mask are pretty good at giving you an idea of his expression after all," Vanille pointed out.

Sazh just sighed in reply, not really sure how to argue with what he had started calling Vanille-Logic, and decided to move on to a much more important matter as he stepped to the forefront of the battlefield. "Well, if neither Soldier Girl or Trench Coat are willing to step up, then how about letting this old timer handle things," Sazh commented, drawing everyone's attention to him as his brand started glowing a little brighter with every word. He then crossed his arms and chanted, "I summon Brynhildr!"

A moment later, everyone watched as an orange crystal materialized from his brand, which he immediately blasted after tossing it into the sky. When the crystal shattered, a massive, female-looking warrior materialized from a circular pentagram, and dropped down onto the deck alongside of Sazh in a blaze of fire, shouldering the massive, elaborate axe it carried after it had. Looking it over, one could see right away that this red and gold armored Eidolon had detailing running down its chest that resembled a corset, while a frame ran down its back in a similar styling of a cape. The only other things that one could really note off the bat was that the Eidolon had horns and feet with built-in stiletto heels. Seeing this massive new player on the field must have worried the Kalavinka Striker, because it actually paused in its assault on the team and backed up a little bit after Brynhildr had landed on the field, bringing a smug smile to Sazh's face when he noticed that.

While the others could only stare in surprise or excitement at seeing this, only Spidey was able to comment on the matter. "Sazh has an Eidolon now," the web-head exclaimed before falling silent for a few seconds. "Huh. Given what we learned about from Fang, I kinda figured that Vanille would've ended up getting one between the two of them."

"I thought you were a little more confident on how well Vanille could handle herself," Fang questioned with a pointed look.

Spidey could only helplessly shrug as Sazh and Brynhildr went to work on their massive foe, slashing, blasting, bashing, and burning away at the Striker with an ease that Spidey had now seen displayed quite a few times now after seeing Snow and Lightning's Eidolons in action as often as he had. For a brief time, everyone considered just leaving everything to Sazh and his new friend, or at least most of them were, but Peter Parker had learned long ago that unless everyone else on the team was unable to fight at all, then they had no reason to not pitch in at least a little bit. Besides, in his mind he had already had to leave Sazh and Vanille to fend for themselves for too long now, so he was not going to sit back and do so again now that he could help it.

"Hope, Vanille, you two help me, Sazh, and his Eidolon knock that bird out of the sky. Hit it with everything you've can," Spider-Man commanded, already priming one web-shooter for Ice Webbing and the other for Flame Webbing. The two kids instantly nodded in response, and were soon throwing out various uses of their respective weapons and spells in support of Sazh. Spidey would have shouted out orders for the other three members of their group as well, but it seemed that the woman who was quickly becoming his second-in-command was already well ahead of him.

"Snow, Fang, be ready to hit it the minute it gets close enough to the ground," Lightning called out, already firing a few shots from her gunblade's rifle mode as she rushed forward.

"Right behind ya, Light," Fang reassured as she fell into step on Lightning's left side.

"You've got it, Sis," Snow nodded with a grin as he came in on the rosette's other side.

"I'm not your sister," was all that Lightning said just before they all leapt into the air once they had gotten close enough to the Striker and saw it had fallen far enough. The beast was already aiming its Electro Cannons at them in preparation to fire, but Brynhildr came in to bash it on the back before the shot could be fire, and the three were easily able to come crashing down on top of their opponent seconds later with their own respective attack. With that last blow, the beast had been defeated, and everyone could now breathe a sigh of relief.

After the others had stowed away their weapons, they all turned to see the happy sight of Fang and Vanille finally making their reunion official with a heartfelt hug, and they all found themselves smiling happily for the two Pulsian women. Of course, the boys all quickly averted their gazes when Fang knelt down to have a look at Vanille's l'Cie brand, with Spider-Man going as far as to mutter about how the sky looked in order to make sure the other boys had done so. Not that any of the others really needed to, seeing as Lightning was shooting some of them a look that promised pain if they did not follow the web-head's lead.

"You've still got time," Fang sighed in relief, not seeming to notice how worried Vanille seemed to be at that moment, until the girl spoke up again.

"Fang…There's—there's something I need to tell you," the redhead started to say, only to stop short when Fang suddenly pulled her close in a very tight hug, and she could feel the spear-woman shaking a little soon after.

"Making me worry like that," Fang muttered into the top of Vanille's head. "We'll talk later, Missy."

Vanille could not really say anything in reply to that, so she just nodded into Fang's chest, and let the older woman give her a small tap on the head as she let out a giggle. While it was a touching sight, Snow could not help but notice that Sazh was not looking quite as happy as the others, and Spidey realized this soon after. The latter figured that Sazh must have learned the truth about Vanille and her friend by now and decided it would be best to not say anything just yet, but the former still felt that he had to inquire about the old man's state of mind. "What's wrong," Snow finally asked.

"Huh? Oh, uh…nothing! It's nothing," Sazh brushed off with what he hoped sounded like an upbeat tone of voice. He did not quite manage to fool everyone though, as soon Spidey proved.

"Well whatever's going on or whatever needs to be said will have to wait, because at the moment, we've still got a job to do. One that will be a lot easier with all of us here together," Spider-Man informed the two new arrivals, his voice sounding confident and unwavering when he spoke.

"Right! So, what's on the agenda," Sazh asked.

"Toppling the Sanctum," Snow easily replied with a grin while placing a punch into his open palm.

"No, I mean really," Sazh asked, thinking that Snow was joking. After all, he had been down in the Vile Peaks when Spider-Man had pointed out the problems that would follow if they did that, so he highly doubted that they were here to do that.

"He's serious. We're gonna take down the Sanctum and give Cocoon back to the people," Lightning revealed, her tone brimming with her usual cool and calm confidence, but somehow, everyone noticed that there was a certain lightness to it this time.

"Well, that's part of it anyway. Basically, we're gonna topple the government and give Cocoon back to the people, hunt down a mad scientist from my world who is also one of my old archenemies and bring him to justice before he can roll out any more dangerous tech for PSICOM and the Sanctum to abuse, put an end to the fal'Cie calling the shots on how people should live their lives, and in a nutshell, save the world. Simple," Spider-Man elaborated.

"Oh yeah…That definitely sounds _real_ simple," Sazh nodded along, hardly believing most of what he was hearing. Though one thing did stick out to him. "By any chance, could this scientist make a bunch of robots that are really hard to kill and have long metal arms?"

That earned the old pilot Spidey's full attention, as he asked, "Would you describe those robots as being almost octopus-like?"

Sazh and Vanille both thought about it for a minute before exchanging a quick shrug as the older one of the two finally said, "I guess."

"Oh goddamn thwip. He's rolled out some new Octobots too! I swear Octavius, if I didn't already know, I'd ask what the hell is wrong with you," Spidey groaned as his hand quickly became acquainted with his forehead.

"I'm guessing that it's bad news," Lightning reasoned, earning only a small moan in confirmation from the web-head.

"Which means that if we do pull this off, it'll be a miracle," Hope continued from there.

Fang suddenly stabbing her spear down into the deck pulled everyone out of their worries long enough to give her their full attention. "Well, good thing Lady's Luck on our side," the spear-woman commented with a grin.

Peter could only roll his eyes behind his mask and was about to make another comment on the ol' Parker Luck when his Spider-Sense suddenly blared another warning at him. "Oh for thwip's sake. Now what," the web-head questioned as he looked upwards, with the others following his gaze soon after, just in time to see several large, Garuda Interceptors flying over their heads.

"More of 'em," Sazh questioned in disbelief.

"You know, this getting really old," Snow agreed, bracing himself for another fight. Fang on the other hand had a different idea.

"Check this out," the spear-woman grinned. "A miracle, Gran Pulse style!"

Only Vanille did not give Fang a bewildered look, and that made it all the less surprising when she ended up being the only one to rush forward until she was standing right next to Fang. After taking a moment, Fang spotted one Garuda flying right towards them, and pointed directly at it as she commanded, "Vanille, go fish!"

"Got it," Vanille nodded, and after waiting for the beast to fly past them, only ducking a little as it fired a breath attack at them, Vanille reeled back her Binding Rod and released its wires as soon as she swung it forward, letting the wires fly forward in a straight line until the tips were just a short ways in front of the Garuda's wings. Fang quickly charged forward as this was happening, and soon leapt high into the air, to the point where they could barely even see her. A few seconds later, Vanille pulled back on her weapon, locking the wires into place on the Garuda's wings as she shouted a signal to her friend. "Fang!"

No sooner had Vanille ensnared the Garuda, the beast was slowly pulled back, right beneath Fang as she descended upon it with her spear ready to drive right into the monster's neck. Her weapon did just that, but not in a way that would kill. Instead, it merely made it clear that Fang did not want the beast to take off any time soon after landing on the deck, and it seemed like the Garuda understood full well what happen if it did try any time sooner than Fang wanted it too. When she had confirmed that she was going to get the Garuda's cooperation, Fang turned back to the others and waved them over, prompting Vanille to start rushing towards her once she had retracted the wires into her Binding Rod.

"Let's get on," Vanille encouraged the others, and no one even tried to argue with her. Although, that was only partly because of the incredible display that the Pulse girls had just given them.

The minute he was on the beast's back and in a position that was right behind Lightning and alongside where Snow was sitting, Spider-Man gave everyone's thoughts on what just happened a voice, and said, "I've gotta admit, you two…that was awesome."

Fang and Vanille both grinned a little at that, partly as a show of thanks for Spidey's praise, and partly because they knew that the others had not seen anything yet regarding what they could do together.

* * *

It may have seemed a little mean of him to feel this way, but to be quite honest, part of Spidey was kind of enjoying hearing Sazh's cries of fright. There was just something funny about the way that the man panicked. That and he was pretty sure that the older man was laughing a little at him after he found out about the web-head's fear of planes, at least on the inside, so Peter felt this was probably Sazh's just desserts. Aside from that, riding on the Garuda was definitely some of the most fun that Peter had since this crazy adventure with Pulse l'Cie brands and fal'Cie had started, and from the looks of things, the same could be said of Vanille and Fang, too. He could tell just from the looks in their eyes as Vanille brushed her hair back while Fang steered the beast that they were feeling like they were back home on Gran Pulse, and that made Peter smile a little more under his mask. Of course, the others were enjoying themselves a bit too, but it was only evident on Snow and Hope's faces. Then again, Peter liked to think that he had come to know Lightning well enough to know that she was having fun too, right to the point where he would swear up and down that he had caught a ghost of a smile on her face once or twice when he looked over at her.

"Believe in Lady Luck now," Fang called back to Sazh as the chocobo man held on for dear life in an attempt to make sure he was not thrown off.

"Yeah! Lady _Bad_ Luck," Sazh retorted, barely opening his eyes as he continued to tighten his grip as much as he could.

Peter had just to scoff at that remark and replied, "Dude, if you think this is bad luck then you should try spending a _good_ week dealing with the Ol' Spider Luck."

"No thank you," Sazh immediately declined. "Everything else about you is already crazy enough for my tastes."

"I'll take that as a compliment, Hair Nest," Spidey easily retorted, poking a little fun at how Sazh had a chocobo chick living in his afro when he did.

Snow's grin grew a little more at the friendly banter, even as he smacked a fist into his open palm, and declared, "Time to Purge a Primarch!"

"Couldn't have said it better myself," Spider-Man agreed. "Fang, take us in!"

"You've got it," the spear-woman nodded, and she immediately urged the Garuda onwards to their destination, ignoring Sazh's screams when she did.

Of course, said destination was behind a large amount of guns, which had immediately opened fire on them as soon as they started to get close. Thankfully, the Garuda took a good majority of the punishment from the weapons, and Fang had even persuaded the beast to return fire at one point. The spear-woman's actions served to not only get rid of a few of the _Palamecia_ 's weapons, but also open a hole in the ship that would let them enter an area that was likely near the ship's bridge. When he realized this, Spider-Man quickly sent a few mental commands to his suit's AI, and then looked to the others.

"Everybody jump now," Spider-Man shouted.

"No, wait! We're still too high up," Lightning protested over the noise of gunfire that was now coming at them more rapidly, and forcing Fang to guide the Garuda even higher.

"Don't worry about that! Just go," Spider-Man insisted, and he immediately launched himself upwards a little before angling himself so that he would enter a slow descent.

While the others were more inclined to agree with Lightning's idea to wait before taking the big plunge, seeing Spidey take the initiative and jump off their bestial ride now prompted them all to follow his lead, with the main difference being that they just dropped straight down instead of trying to jump a little higher. Most of them could not help but scream a little as they fell, until they all felt something small hit their backs. At first, some of them thought that they had been shot, but then, a web-parachute suddenly opened up above them, slowing the rest of their descent into the ship. Seeing that they were not in for a steep or dangerous fall any longer, all of the screaming came to an end, but some of them still had yet to get all of panic from falling out of their system, and elected to take a few deep breathes before they started having a panic attack or hyperventilating. Eventually, they all reached solid ground once more, and a few quick swipes from either Lightning's gunblade or Fang spear severed the webs from their backs before they got tangled up in the sticky substance.

Looking around, they did not see Spider-Man with them, until Lightning turned to see him coming to the end of his descent via his web wings. After letting him retract the wings, Lightning immediately marched over her friend and demanded, "What was that?"

"New web-shooter combo I just thought of. Nothing too special; just a mix of my web-parachute with the Web Grenade function," Spider-Man explained with a modest shrug.

"And you've never used it before," Fang asked in disbelief, knowing just how dangerous it was to use new moves or abilities without practicing with them first.

"Of course not. That's why I said I just thought of it," Spider-Man pointed out. "Besides, it was either that, or I try to catch everyone and fire a web-parachute before we all hit the deck and died. I think we all know which option everyone prefers." No one argued with the web-head's point, and that helped him move on to the next important matter before them. "Now that we've gotten that cleared up, is everyone okay?"

"Yeah, we're good," Snow confirmed with a roll of his shoulders, indicating himself and Hope when he did.

"A little shaken from our sudden drop, but, yeah, I'm okay," Sazh nodded shaking his legs a little to get some feeling back into them.

"What about you, Spidey," Vanille asked, knowing that Fang and Light were most likely okay too.

"Ready whenever you guys are," Spider-Man confirmed. He then looked over to the rosette of the group and asked, "So, where we headed, Lightning?"

Lightning immediately turned around to face the door just a few short stair flights away from them, and said, "Straight ahead. Dysley's through there."

"You sure?"

"Positive," Lightning confirmed. "I've memorized a lot of the schematics and charts describing the layout of this ship, both when I was training and while we were guests on the _Lindblum_. That leads to the bridge, and it's the only place that Dysley would be waiting for us."

"All right then," Spider-Man nodded, only noticing from the edge of his perception as Fang promised Vanille that they would still have their talk after they survived this when did. "Let's not keep the man waiting any longer. This is a meeting that I've been waiting a long time for."

"You say that like you knew it was going to happen sooner or later," Snow noted.

"I wouldn't say that I 'knew' it would happen. More like I expected it to happen," Spidey clarified. "If someone like that gets onto my radar like Dysley has, odds are pretty good that I'm gonna run into him eventually."

Once again, no one had a response for Spider-Man's statement, but this time it was more due to the fact that Lightning was already leading the charge in heading towards the bridge, and no one was willing to just stand around and wait while she did all the work. There was some interference of course, they all knew it was not going to be a simple walk to the door, but nothing of major worth since most of them were easily knocked aside with one blow from someone in their group or flung aside by Spidey's webs. The ease of this approach actually made at least half of them feel a little more nervous, because they were sure that security in this part of the ship would be much tighter and not as lax as it appeared to be, and yet there were nothing more than some sub-level guards standing in the way. Peter also noted that none of them had any Sinister Tech on them, and given what they had learned about the stuff that Doc Ock had made for the Sanctum, he was sure that some of the best weapons and technology would be used to guard important people and places like the bridge of the Sanctum Skyfleet's flagship or the ruler of all Cocoon. The whole thing reeked of a trap more than anything else on this ship did ever since they first saw the news broadcast that had brought him, Lightning, Snow, Fang, and Hope here, but unfortunately, Peter knew that at this point, there was no other option for them other than springing the trap.

That time was likely going to come much sooner than Peter would have liked, because after fighting through one or two more small, unimpressive squads of soldiers, the team was rushing onto the bridge, where Primarch Dysley was waiting for them, along with a woman with dark blonde hair that went down to her mid-thigh, and dressed in an outfit that while regal in some sense, still made Peter think of people similar to Emma Frost or someone of similar background and status. The smirk she had on her face as the team entered the room only enforced that belief a little more in Peter's eyes, and from the way that Sazh was glaring at her, he had to guess that she had a history with the fatherly pilot.

"Been looking for you, Nabaat," Sazh shouted, already grabbing one of his guns to aim it at her as they came to a stop in the middle of the room.

Nabaat just hummed in amusement before jumping down to stand before the group, her smirk unwavering even as she drew a baton that seemed similar to weapons used in fencing matches. "Your Eminence, please escape," Nabaat said to Dysley, her eyes never leaving the group before her. "I'll cover your retreat."

"I've got a better idea. It starts with Splitter Webs," Spidey argued, drawing Nabaat's attention onto him in an instant. The next thing she knew, both of her legs, and Dysley's were webbed up by the four web-lines that Spider-Man had shot out, two for each of them, and they were soon watching as Spider-Man webbed up a majority of the bridge crew, two at a time with the same web-shooter setting. "Then it moves on to Impact Webbing," Spider-Man continued, firing a few rounds of said webs at both her and Dysley, securing the Primarch to his throne while Nabaat herself found her arms pinned her sides. "And then finishes up with a Web Grenade to stop that idiot over there from charging at us like he really believes he can take us all alone," Spidey finished, pointing one arm towards the wall and firing a Web Grenade without looking at where it was going. The grenade went off seconds later, ensnaring the lone soldier that had been charging in just like Peter had said, and neutralizing any opposition that any team had been facing at that moment. "Yeah, I'm that amazing," Spider-Man remarked in false boasting tone. His voice quickly hardened though as he moved onto his next statement though, and it sent a few chills up the spines of many people in the room, including those of his friends. "Now, you and your boss are going to listen up to our complaints like good hosts, and you're going to tell me what I want to know, starting with one simple question: Where's Doc Ock?"

"Who," Nabaat asked, obviously trying to feign ignorance, but she failed to fool anybody that was well aware of the person Spidey was referring to. Needless to say, Peter was not amused.

"Don't try and act cute with me," Spider-Man warned, his voice now turning to a dangerous tone. "Doc Ock, aka Doctor Octopus, aka Otto Octavius, aka The Doc as you and you're little boy toys call him. I know he's providing you with all of your fancy new tech, so I suggest you tell me where he is, or find out just what happens when I decide to stop being a friendly neighborhood Spider-Man."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Nabaat continued to insist, looking as calm and collected as ever.

Spidey was silent for a moment before he finally shrugged and said, "Okay. I tried being nice about this." With a flick of his wrist, the wall-crawler easily snapped out a Taser Web that hit Nabaat dead center, and everyone had to wince as she let out a cry of pain. "Oh suck it up. That was one of the lowest voltage settings on my Taser Webs," Spider-Man informed her, all the while tapping his web-shooter as he made a few adjustments. "But the next one won't be. Now, if you're done acting like I'm one of the many idiots you've slept with to get your big fancy position, how about you finally tell me what I want to know, and maybe I won't fry you into dust. Emphasis on 'maybe'."

Nabaat would have answered right away, but she was a little busy panting from the intense jolt that she had just received from Spidey's electrically charged webs. That and she had gotten a little hung up on one of the last things he had said, and quickly lost her calm after hearing it. "Excuse me?!"

"Oh don't give me that. It doesn't matter how you pretty it up; with how you're dressed, you might as well be wearing a shirt that says 'I'm an easy dominatrix.' You know it, I know it, hell, I'm betting everyone in this room knows it, including your big bad boss," Spider-Man mocked, and he quickly noticed how Sazh was smirking a little at his taunting of the woman, while Snow and Fang were trying to keep their chuckles down in the face of the serious situation. "Now for the last time, where is Doc Ock?"

"The doctor is not here," Dysley replied in Nabaat's place, surprising everyone at his forthcoming. "He is currently in a lab we provided him that is near the heart of Eden, working on both more equipment for our soldiers and his own special projects, one or two of which he has managed to keep secret even from us."

"Your Eminence," Nabaat gasped, hardly believing that Dysley was actually giving away such information to a known threat to Cocoon.

"There's no harm in telling Spider-Man this information, Jihl, given that it will make no difference for him or his allies in the end," Dysley remarked, continuing to sound like there was nothing to be getting worked up about.

While the others were surprised that Dysley was willing to come out and say such things, Spidey took this as a chance for him to get in a few more words. "Glad you feel that way, because I have quite a few things I'd like to say to you, Dysley. A lot of which are really important, and are things that someone should've said to you a long time ago. In fact, the stuff I have to say to you is so important, that I wrote it down so I wouldn't forget."

The others all thought Spidey was joking about that last bit, and some of them even came close to laughing a little, but they all stopped short when they saw him reach into his belt and pull out several note cards. "Wait, you're serious? You actually wrote down what you were going to say to him," Snow asked in disbelief.

"When and where did you even have the time to do that," Lightning asked in disbelief. She and Hope had been with Spider-Man more than anyone else in their group, and she certainly did not remember seeing him stop to write anything down. A quick glance at Hope allowed her to realize that the boy did not remember him doing this either, at least if the unsure shrug Hope gave her was anything to go by.

"I've gotten very good at multitasking over the years," Spider-Man replied, and he left it at that before turning back to Dysley. "Now, I want you to pay close attention, because this is all really important, and you sir really need to hear this." He then cleared his throat, glanced around to make sure that everyone was paying attention, and read what he had written down on the card in a clear voice just so everyone could understand him. "What's up with the veil? You getting married or something, and if so, who's the groom?"

If it were not for her rigid self-control, Lightning was sure she would have fallen flat on her face in disbelief at what Spidey just said, or that her jaw would have dropped to the floor along with Sazh, Hope, and Snow's. Vanille and Fang on the other hand just stared at him in disbelief, while many of the grunts who were still webbed up looked at him like he had lost his mind. Even Nabaat was giving him a wide-eyed, disbelieving look with her jaw dropped open as she gaped at him. Meanwhile, Dysley seemed to finally lose his cool and collected visage, and instead was now looking at Spider-Man in mild surprise, hardly believing that the web-head had actually just insulted him like that. What no one had expected was that Spider-Man was not quite done yet.

"No? Okay, how about this one," Spider-Man remarked as he tossed the first card aside. "That's a very cute dress. Did your husband give it to you?" Many of the disbelieving looks remained, albeit more subdued now, while Dysley's eyes narrowed slightly in slowly building anger. "Sheesh. Tough room," Spidey commented, moving on to another card. "How about this…Seriously, that really is a lovely dress. It actually reminds me of something my grandma wore in the early Thirties. No, wait. That one probably went over everyone's heads since most of you would have no idea what I'm talking about. I thought I threw that one out. Okay, okay…how about…Why are you wearing a tacky dress, dude? Did you believe someone when they told you that it was fashion forward, or are you just way too in touch with your feminine side that you want to boast about it to the world?"

With each passing joke, it became harder and harder for everyone to not laugh, and that was including both Spidey's friends and the soldiers that were still webbed up on the bridge. Even Nabaat was struggling not to burst out laughing at any moment, while Lightning was fighting a smile that was slowly creeping onto her face. By the time Spidey got to that last one, several of the bridge's occupants had now burst out laughing, and Peter was sure that if they were not webbed up, the soldiers on the bridge would probably be rolling around on the floor in laughter. Of course, that was based on the fact that Snow and Sazh were laughing so hard they were starting have trouble standing upright. Dysley on the other hand was far from amused, and his rage ended up leading to a revelation that no one was expecting.

"ENOUGH," Dysley shouted, releasing a blast of energy from his staff, which instantly disintegrated one of the soldiers at the bridge controls, much to everyone's shock.

"Magic," Sazh breathed in disbelief.

"Your…Your Eminence," Jihl stuttered, hardly believing the sight that she and so many others had just seen.

Dysley's angry expression did not fade, but his voice did seem to regain its even tones, though it was now laced with blinding arrogance when he next spoke. "Apologies Jihl, but I was hoping that neither you or any other humans here would have to see that. Then again, it's not like any of said humans have any more business here."

Before Nabaat could say anything in response, she too was struck down by the same spell that Dysley had just used on one of her soldiers. The Primarch then chuckled evilly as he rose up into the air, with six magic orbs forming around the tip of his staff, and with a wave of said staff, every other soldier in the room was soon being struck down by Dysley's spell. It was hard to say if any of them would have been able to shake off their shock long enough to try and run, because even if they could, they would not have been able to, since every person that Dysley's spell targeted was still wrapped up in Spider-Man's webs, and that did not sit right with any of the six l'Cie or Spidey at all.

"Dysley," Snow shouted, clearly planning to try and do something, even if he were not able to do anything. Someone else beat him to it though, as Spider-Man used a pair of web-lines to catapult himself towards the magic wielding Primarch, planning to do whatever he could to stop the man even if it meant he could only save one of the soldiers that he had rendered vulnerable to this despicable act.

"THAT'S ENOUGH," Spider-Man roared at the Primarch, taking a swing at him once he was close enough. Dysley did not seem to let it bother him though, as he merely spun his staff around to block Spider-Man's punch, creating a loud, echoing clang when the metal staff collided with the attack that was backed by the proportionate strength of a spider.

"Pathetic," Dysley sniffed, and he swiftly pushed Spidey back down to the deck, sending him sailing over the heads of his friends and into the back wall, drawing a grunt of pain from Peter when he hit said wall.

Hope and Lightning were both instantly rushing to Peter's side, with the boy quickly casting a healing spell to reverse any of the web-head's more serious injuries, just as Lightning had reached him and started helping him up again. "You okay," the rosette asked.

"Yeah. I've taken more painful hits from Rhino, Sandman, and even Hydroman," Spider-Man grunted as he gave the two a grateful nod, while all three of them noted how Dysley had just blasted open the ceiling after he finally ran out of soldiers to kill.

"Monster! People are not yours to use," Snow roared in anger, and it was hard for any of his friends to really tell if he was more upset with the murders that Dysley had just committed or how the Primarch had just hurt his friend. In the end, they figured it was probably an even mixture, given that this was Snow they were talking about.

Dysley on the other hand seemed to find Snow's anger as nothing more than mere amusement, as he merely grinned a little as he descended to the floor before them, and asked, "What else does one do with tools?" That was the wrong thing to ask Snow, as the big blonde immediately charged the Primarch with a roar of anger, fully intent on delivering as powerful a punch as he could to Dysley's smug, arrogant face. It did not work out so well, because instead of hitting Dysley, Snow ended up hitting a barrier that sent him flying away from the Primarch, and tumbling back over to his friends, drawing gasps of concern from all of them. While Hope and several of the others immediately went over to check on Snow, Spidey moved to the front of the group with Lightning and Sazh on either side of him, daring Dysley to take any offensive action. Instead, the Primarch merely started rolling right into a dark tangent that Peter immediately realized was likely going to be the beginning of a villain monologue. "Cocoon is a factory, built by fal'Cie. A factory for the mass production of human thralls."

"Not anymore it's not," Snow protested as he slowly stood up, with a little help from Hope.

"What can mere men do," Dysley scoffed, clearly thinking little of Snow's threat. "Without our help, death is all of which you're capable. You saw the fools. A mindless mob drunk on fear of a few l'Cie."

"If they only knew a l'Cie was the one filling their glasses," Lightning pointed out, fixing her glare as firmly onto Dysley as her gunblade now was, while standing ready to strike at any moment.

"L'Cie? You mean me," Dysley asked, and he soon started to laugh rather darkly, sending several shivers up the spines of everyone in the room, including Spidey. The web-head knew quite well that whenever bad guys laughed like that, it likely meant they were about to do or reveal something really bad to whatever heroes were currently facing them, and Dysley quickly proved him right as he lifted up into the air once more, while a mechanical owl suddenly flew over to him. "Oh child, perish the thought. I am more than that!"

An instant later, the owl had flown right into the glowing tip of Dysley's staff, and a massive light exploded into the room, forcing most of the group to shield their eyes in an attempt to prevent themselves from going blind. When they were finally able to see again without risking damage to their eyesight though, some of them quickly wished that they had gone blind, because they would have avoided seeing the horrifying sight before them. Somehow, Dysley had transformed himself into a massive, mechanical monstrosity with a bronze coloring and gold lining, while alien markings could be seen along his skin. The sides of his massive head had large, wing-like protrusions that had four face-masks grafted into the skin, and while his eyes lacked pupils, the most disturbing thing about this new form was the eerie grin with sharp, dagger-like teeth that he was baring down at them. This form quickly began to make everyone draw up one conclusion, and it was that even made Spidey step back a little in weary concern.

"I am fal'Cie," Dysley revealed, confirming the group's fears, and drawing worried gasps and looks from nearly everyone. Even Lightning's usually stoic and confident façade faltered into tangible fear when she saw this, while Fang was quickly moving to stand in front of Vanille as if to protect the younger Pulsian from any danger that would be coming for them. "My name is Barthandelus. Voice of the Sanctum and Lord-Sovereign of the Cocoon fal'Cie. Your kind feared the darkness, so we gave you light. You begged us for the Purge, and did it not come to pass? Now you spurn our counsel? You must learn your place!"

Even though he was just as shell-shocked as the others, Spider-Man still managed to work through his stupor to work in a few words to say in retort, and prove it when he said, "And yet despite all of that, you're still ugly. Though I will say this, it is a step up from the dress and veil thing you had going on earlier."

"You dare to continue your prattling, insect," Dysley, or rather Barthandelus demanded. "Make no mistake, you will feel my wrath for your insolence, and nothing you say now can change that."

"First off, as someone who claims to be all-knowing and powerful, I would've expected you to know that spiders are not insects. Guess I was setting the bar a little too high even in that regard," Spidey retorted, going right for a retort he had used against many different villains several times in his life. "Second, does this mean we're going to fight now, because honestly, death is starting to sound a lot better than listening to some freak show with a god-complex that likes pretending to be a cranky old man with a thing for cross-dressing."

Barthandelus's response to that was an enraged roar as he unleashed a powerful barrage of energy blasts from his back, forcing the group to scatter as best as they could in order to avoid getting hit, signaling that their enemy had well and truly had it with Spidey's insults and jokes. "Did you _have_ to antagonize him," Fang demanded as she landed in a spot near Peter after dodging a recent blast.

"Actually, yeah," Spider-Man confirmed with no shame whatsoever. "It's a thing that I always do with bad guys, and people expect it from me, so why should I let them down? Plus, it also serves to help me keep it together when I'm feeling nervous or freaked out, and right now, I'm freaking out like crazy."

"You're freaking out?! How do you think the rest of us feel," Sazh demanded as he scrambled to get away from a fire blast that was just released from one of the face-masks on the left wing.

"Hey, just because I've got spider powers and ten years of experience in fighting crazy maniacs and supervillains under my belt doesn't mean I'm any less human, you know," Spider-Man pointed out as he spun and flipped over any blast or attack that Barthandelus threw at him. It did not escape his notice how the fal'Cie seemed to be focusing a lot of attention on him, but he chalked that up to additional shows of Barthandelus's reaction to his insults and quips.

"Well next time, do us a favor and try stowing most of the insults in favor of just throwing out bad jokes. Especially since we're up against a fal'Cie," Lightning demanded, deflecting a blast or two with her gunblade's sword mode when she could not dodge them.

"Wait, you're not telling me that you guys are actually this worried about this, are you," Spidey asked, chuckling a little like he had heard an unbelievable joke. When everyone else shot him a look in response, his chuckles immediately died while he muttered, "Oh my god, you're all actually serious." He shook his head at this and then stated, "Come on you guys. Don't forget, most of us have already fought against a fal'Cie before and won, and that was before you got any funky tattoos or fancy magic powers! Add in the fact that we've also got at least a couple of Eidolons on our side that are just raring to lend us a hand at any moment they're called, and we shouldn't have all that much to worry about."

The others had to take a moment to process what Spider-Man just said, until Hope flicked out his boomerang and declared, "Spidey's right. If we could handle a fal'Cie without l'Cie powers and magic, and back when we barely knew each other or were working together, we can handle this guy now."

Vanille seemed to be especially encouraged by the two boys' words, and it showed when she whipped out her Binding Rod and moved to stand alongside Spidey and Hope as she declared, "Ready when you two are then!"

"Hey, don't think I'm just going to sit back and do nothing while you kids are charging into something this big," Sazh smirked, drawing his other gun so that he now had both ready for battle as he did. "Wouldn't be all that responsible of me if I did."

Soon after, Snow was standing alongside them with his usual smirk of confidence as he declared, "Like any self-respecting hero would dare to think of shying away from a challenge this big, so I'm with you guys, too."

"Like you even need to ask if I'm in," Lightning told them, and while her tone was kept short, the others all detected friendly tones brimming inside of it along with the confident fire that was carried in her voice.

"Well then, what are we standing around here talking about it for? Let's take this guy down already," Fang decreed as she spun her spear around in an extra show of her readiness for battle, and her declaration turned out to be the last one necessary, as the battle against their greatest enemy yet began almost right after.

Barthandelus was not planning on letting any of the group make any aggressive moves against him, as he proved when he fired off several different blasts of fire and ice from his wings, but thankfully, the team were all able to evade the blasts easily enough. Hope and Vanille were both quick to retaliate with their own magic spells, while Sazh opened fire on the wing that the kids were not focused on. This allowed the other four to try and get in close so that they could hit Barthandelus right in his oversized face. What they did not expect, was that his face ended up being surrounded by a powerful shield that pushed them all back when they tried to hit him, and Snow and Fang both ended up nearly kissing the floor while Spidey and Lightning both landed on their feet in a crouch. Seeing that they not going to get any regular attacks through, Lightning quickly cast a few spells of her own on Barthandelus's head, thinking that would yield better results, only to be disappointed when the shield continued to hold. This left her a little confused, because it seemed like the wings that the other three were attacking had no such protection at all, and that was when it all fit into place for Lightning.

"Everyone! Focus on the wings! They're what's keeping him protected from our attacks," Lightning shouted, turning to charge at the wing that Sazh was firing on.

The other three all nodded in response and went on to pick a target before charging in. Spider-Man and Snow were both quick to provide assistance to the kids while Fang went over to tag-team with Lightning and Sazh, and soon enough, they were all unloading various spells and attacks on the fal'Cie that was trying to destroy them. The only problem was that despite how much power their attacks had, the wings did not seem to be taking too much damage. At least, not until one of Hope's fire blasts hit one of the face-masks on the wing he and his group were focusing on, and the whole thing seemed to shutter from the hit. When Vanille's next Aero hit the other mask and brought a similar result, Spidey and Snow immediately exchanged a quick nod to confirm that they knew where they had to hit now, and instantly charged in, with the web-head throwing out a couple of Taser Webs in the hopes of stunning the fal'Cie's extensions just enough so that they could not cast any spells until they had already closed in.

Spider-Man's plan worked out pretty well, because he and Snow did not have to worry about dodging any fire or ice blasts until they were right in front of the face-masks on the wings, and by then, they were already unloading their own attacks into the weak-point of Barthandelus's oversized extensions. A few easy Froststrikes from Snow combined with some powerful hits and kicks from Spider-Man, and the entire wing was soon gone, leaving Barthandelus's right side exposed. Seeing this immediately made Snow think that they could hit the fal'Cie's big head from the right side without too much trouble, and he was somewhat right. It turned out that the shield was still there, as Snow soon found out when he attempted another Froststrike on Barthandelus, but it was significantly weaker on the right side now, even if it did still manage to push Snow back after his attack had connected. The only other downside was that he also left himself open to getting slashed in half by the fal'Cie's large claws, and had Peter not pulled the big guy to safety just in time, Snow likely would have been sliced into three pieces, bare minimum.

"You've really got watch your surroundings, big guy," Spider-Man critiqued before he turned a few Seismic Blasts and Flame Webs on the face-masks on Barthandelus's other wing, giving Lightning and Fang the opening that they needed to close in and attack said weak-points.

"How about you give me a few more fighting pointers later and focus on the fight for now," Snow retorted as he charged in again, this time heading for the same targets as the two warrior women.

Snow's charge came up short as he had to roll away from another fire blast that would have burnt him to a crisp if he had kept charging straight ahead, but thankfully, the ice blast that followed after was deflected when Vanille and Hope both cast some protective magic to keep him safe. Sazh kept firing his guns at the wings while dashing and dodging anything that was thrown at him and it became a little easier when Vanille managed to use a Haste spell to speed up his reflexes a little. That did not mean he was not thankful for the moment when Lightning had leapt back and used her gunblade's rifle mode to fire off a few rounds as well, while Spidey shot out a couple more Seismic Blasts before switching over to Taser Webs once more, and repeating his earlier actions from when he, Snow, and the kids were targeting the right wing.

"Wait a minute. Spider-Man has magic powers now too," Sazh exclaimed, only just now realizing that many of Spidey's newest attacks seemed to have been infused with at least three of the same elements that he and the others could now command.

"Not magic. Just a few upgrades," Spider-Man corrected. "Which includes a really cool AI in my suit."

 **"That's nice of you to say, Peter. And you might want to dodge right in a moment,"** Mary advised.

"Yeah, I figured," Peter replied as he did just as the AI recommended.

Sazh was about to ask what Peter had meant when he said that just now, not knowing that Peter had been talking to Mary at the time, when Lightning suddenly flicked her gunblade into sword mode again and said, "It's a long story that can wait. Fight now, talk later."

The ex-soldier punctuated her point by infusing lightning magic into her gunblade once more, and slashing away at the outermost face-mask until finally, the section of the wing it seemed central to had been completely destroyed. The other face-mask tried to hit Lightning with a blast of fire magic, but thankfully, Spider-Man saw it coming and pulled Lightning away with a web-line just in time, while Fang took the chance to jump in and deliver the killing blow on the face-mask, destroying the remainder of the wing when she did. Lightning knew what was probably coming now, but she figured that Peter might wait until after they were not facing down such a serious battle. At least, that was what she was thinking until she remembered who she was talking about.

Peter quickly proved her right as he jumped up to stand beside her and said, "Seven to Seven. All tied up again, and I can guarantee that I'll be taking the lead soon enough."

"Really not the time, Spidey," Lightning practically snapped, not having a better retort than that at the moment.

"You are correct. This is the time for you all to die," Barthandelus roared, rising up off the ground a little so that they could all see his snake-like body a little better. "Now, witness my power!"

After he said that, Barthandelus's head started shifting around until his face had completely opened up to reveal several large cannons inside of it, instantly making everyone nervous, and rightly so, seeing as he opened fire with all of them at once. Everyone quickly ran for whatever cover they could, or just in an attempt to stay clear of the blasts until Barthandelus had finally ceased fire, but considering that even Spider-Man was having a hard time avoiding the blast, their chances did not appear to be all that good. Thankfully, he finally stopped firing after a while, and the seven took that as their chance to attack. With Lightning, Fang, and Snow taking the lead, Sazh, Vanille, and Hope hanging back to act as support, and Spider-Man basically handling a little bit of everything, you would think that they had a solid formation for their assault against the villainous being, but Barthandelus still had a few tricks up his sleeves that proved troublesome for them.

The first of these tricks turned out to be a series of small energy blasts that he fired out from his eyes, and while some of them did target the group that was making the main charge in the attack, a good number of them went after Spidey or the two kids. It was not much of a problem for the web-head to avoid the blasts, but Vanille and Hope had a little more trouble in dodging the blasts, and were unable to focus long enough to cast spells in order to support their friends. Despite this, they still managed to get through a few attacks that rendered a bit of damage against the fal'Cie, and that prompted Barthandelus to take things up a notch. His method of doing so involved opening up his shoulders so that several large cannons were revealed, and they were all slowly charging up for what was no doubt a very powerful attack. Seeing this prompted the group into much hastier action, as they wanted to take the fal'Cie down before he could fire off this attack, but he was not that close to being defeated just yet, and as such, Barthandelus managed to fire off the attack he called Destrudo.

If they thought the barrage from the cannons in Barthandelus's face were hard to avoid, they soon discovered that this barrage of energy attacks was even harder to dodge, because it was not just raining energy blasts this time. It was pouring them down in a massive torrent that they were lucky to dodge as often as they did. Even Spider-Man had gotten hit a few times by said energy blasts, and when it finally ceased, they were all sprawled out on the floor, struggling to stand up again. "Now you see the power of a fal'Cie," Barthandelus boasted. "Gaze upon its might and submit."

"And people say I talk too much," Spider-Man muttered under his breath.

"We can't just keep charging him like this. We need a plan," Fang pointed out.

"I've got an idea," Lightning immediately stated. "It'll start out similar to what we've been doing, but after we land a few hits, Fang, Hope, Sazh, and Vanille will need to keep him busy long enough for me and Snow to summon our Eidolons. That might even things up at least a little bit for us."

"Works for me," Sazh agreed, wishing that he had enough energy to summon out his Eidolon right now, but he was okay with letting helping Fang and the kids distract the maniac before them.

"Wait, what about me," Spider-Man asked. "Please don't say that I'm going to need to be a decoy for the initial assault or something."

"No, you're our secret weapon. The one that he won't see coming," Lightning replied, giving the web-head a discreet wink as she smiled at him.

"Oh. I gotcha," Spider-Man grinned in reply. He then rose up into his usual crouching stance, and said, "Okay, on your signal, Light."

The rosette nodded in response, and once she was sure everyone was at least in a kneeling position that they could jump up from at any given notice, she began her charge while shouting, "Now!"

Lightning was the one who made the first strike, hitting Barthandelus several times over with her gunblade while it was infused with lightning magic, until she pushed off of the fal'Cie's face to gain some distance and fired off a few quick shots from her weapon's rifle mode. When her feet hit the deck again, Fang came in to deliver a few blows of her own, her spear striking Barthandelus a few times over, and pulling his attention onto her when he prepared to launch his next assault. The energy orbs he sent out towards Fang never quite reached their target, as Snow came in to block them with a Steelguard ready, and since he was already so close to the fal'Cie, he had the perfect opportunity to rush in and land a solid Froststrike. A lightning enhanced boomerang soon struck Barthandelus in the side of his massive head before he could retaliate against Snow, and he turned to the person who had thrown said weapon, just in time to se Hope catch his trusted tool while sending out another blast of powerful fire magic, right alongside Vanille's latest blast of wind magic. The two spells easily merged together for a more powerful blast, and since Sazh had already started firing several rounds from his guns, Barthandelus was not able to react fast enough to stop the blast from hitting him right in the face. Not that it was too hard to hit such a large target, mind you.

From there, the two kids, Sazh, and Fang unleashed everything they could, and made sure that Barthandelus's attention was fully directed at them, making miss the moment when Lightning and Snow had fallen back so that they could focus on their task, along with how Spider-Man had appeared to have completely disappeared. The four's distraction soon paid off, and Barthandelus was soon treated to the spectacular lightshow that accompanied the summoning of both Odin and the Shiva Sisters, right before the Eidolons rushed in along with their masters to attack him. Several powerful attacks were soon bombarding the fal'Cie, and between Odin's powerful lightning attacks and the Shiva Twins' freezing strikes, he was barely able to do all that much against any of the six l'Cie as they dealt out several severe rounds of punishment. It was not until Lightning and Snow both sent out the mental command for their Eidolons to assume their Gestalt Modes that he finally caught a break, and he used that break to unleash his face cannons again, peppering most of the group several times over with more energy blasts, while Lightning and Snow managed to ride away from the blasts just in time, thanks to Odin's horse form and the Shiva Sisters' motorcycle form.

The two Eidolon users then moved in to unleash every attack that they possessed when fighting alongside their Eidolons like this, and while the attacks were powerful, they were just barely enough for it to really matter that much. Still, the damage that they inflicted was impressive enough for Barthandelus to realize that he was on the verge of losing this fight unless he did something quick, and he knew just what to do. He had to use Destrudo once again, and he did not hesitate in opening up his shoulder cannons for even a second. Just as he began charging the cannons to fire though, he realized that Lightning, Snow, Fang, and Hope were all smirking widely for some reason, and he soon discovered what that reason was when several webs came out of nowhere and covered the barrels of his cannons, blocking them up completely, and guaranteeing that they would not be able to release any attacks without said blasts backfiring on him.

"What?! What is this," Barthandelus demanded.

"Well, I'm called Spider-Man, and spiders are known to spin webs, so what do you think they are," a voice playfully questioned from somewhere on his back, and if Barthandelus could turn his head around enough to see, he would have been able to watch as Spider-Man suddenly seemed to appear out of thin air on his back, web-shooters still ready to fire as he deactivated his suit's camouflage mode. "Oh, by the way, I'd stop charging those cannons if I were you."

The web-head then quickly spun off of the fal'Cie's back just as the cannons completed their charging cycle and tried to fire, but since Spidey's webs had completely blocked them up, most of them were unable to fire out any of the energy they had built up and they ended up exploding in a brilliant flash of flames and booms. Sure, some of them did manage to get through the webs, but it was not quite enough to really matter, as those blasts were easily avoided by the l'Cie and their arachnid ally. The group then watched as Barthandelus slowly wavered from one side to the other, trying to shake off the damage he had just inflicted upon himself, but in the end, it looked to be too much, and he simply collapsed to the floor before disintegrating into nothing before their eyes. Even after seeing their foe vanish, none of them were quick to drop their guard, wanting to be sure that they had in fact won the fight, but when nothing else happened after a few minutes, they all believed that it was okay to relax. At least as much as they could, given what they had just seen and learned.

"A fal'Cie running the Sanctum," Snow griped in near disbelief, and complete distaste.

"Yeah, I'll admit it. I did _not_ see that coming," Spider-Man confessed, having truly not expected that little revelation either.

"That's a first," Lightning teased with a small smile.

"Then…I guess it wasn't Eden controlling things after all," Hope panted, thinking that he was the most tired out of everyone in the group, save for maybe Sazh, since the oldest member of the group was hunched over and resting his hands on his knees for a few moments as he caught his breath.

"As I said. I am Lord-Sovereign," Barthandelus's voice suddenly echoed around them, the ship shaking under the power of his voice for a moment. They were all stunned to hear his voice when they all just saw him perish, but what came as even more surprising was when he reappeared before them as Dysley once again. Still, they were able to shake off their surprise enough to level him with hateful glares, which only grew stronger when they saw he was smirking at them like he had been the one who had defeated them, and not the other way around.

"Looks like some things never change," Spider-Man griped. "Just when you think that the bad guy is down for the count in any way, they go and find some way to make a comeback."

"Either that, or fal'Cie just don't go down as easy as the rest of us," Sazh offered.

Spider-Man would have argued that such a thing was true of all bad guys, fal'Cie or otherwise, when Dysley cut him off with a statement that they were not expecting. "Ease is not the issue," the fal'Cie masquerading as the Primarch corrected. "You have not fought to win. You should know quite well already the sure way of dispatching our kind: Ragnarok."

While most of the others were all shooting Dysley with disbelieving looks, Spidey and Fang just stared at him in uncertainty. The former because he did not entirely understand why Dysley was telling them that, and the latter because she was honestly confused by something else entirely. "What's Ragnarok," Fang finally asked, only to gasp in pain a minute later when her brand suddenly reacted and sent a sensation through her arm that made her feel like someone had just set it on fire.

Everyone had instantly taken notice of this, but only Spider-Man seemed to note the expression on Vanille's face when she turned to face her friend, and it was not just one of concern. There was something else there that told Peter that the redhead was very worried about her friend for a reason beyond what any of the rest of them knew. Dysley on the other hand seemed to find this a little humorous, as he chuckled, "Pitiful l'Cie, you've forgotten your Focus."

"Oh, and I suppose we're supposed to believe that you know what it is," Spider-Man questioned, not buying such a thing for even a second.

"But of course," Dysley confirmed like it was obvious as asking about the color of the sky. He then pointed towards the six l'Cie, his finger sweeping over each of them as he spoke, and said, "Ragnarok is the beast one of you must become in order to lay waste to Cocoon." Everyone was horrified when they heard this, but before they could protest, Dysley instantly jumped into the reasons why his claims were true, teleporting around the group so that he was standing close to each of the six l'Cie as he spoke, appearing to study each of them while he did. "You have had the dream. One among you will become that monstrosity, defeat Orphan, and destroy Cocoon."

"Orphan," Lightning questioned, right when Dysley finally ceased his teleporting to stand in front of the entire group again, only this time, with his back towards them.

"I think you lost us just now. What the thwip is Orphan," Spider-Man asked.

"It is the font of Eden's power," Dysley replied as he turned to face them once again. "Orphan fuels Eden with strength, and Eden in turn sustains you and the rest of our kind. Destroy Orphan, and you'll release a force such as this world has never seen. Cocoon will be torn asunder."

No one was sure how to respond to that at first, especially given how sure Dysley sounded about his claims, until Fang finally managed to fight through the pain coming from her brand, stood up, and tried to ask, "So if I did that…Destroyed Orphan…"

"Your Focus would be fulfilled," Dysley finished for her, teleporting directly in front of the spear-woman when he did, and allowing her an up-close look at his smirking face.

There was no denying that Fang was horrified by this revelation, and it looked like she was about to believe what Dysley was saying, until Lightning suddenly cut in, trying to cut Dysley down with her gunblade as she shouted, "So what? Who says it has to be?"

Dysley easily avoided Lightning's blade, and then laughed at her question like she had just asked the most ridiculous thing ever. That prompted Snow to step forward with his counterargument, raising his hand up to show Serah's crystal tear for everyone to see, as he insisted, "Serah asked us to save Cocoon before she turned to crystal. Save it! And that's what we're gonna do! Serah was trying to tell us how to complete our Focus, and we have—"

Snow's argument was cut short when Dysley belched out another round of dark laughter, and then declared, "Allow me to help you see the truth of things. The moment you arrived, your friend wept crystal tears. This was because her Focus required that you be brought together. That girl did nothing but assemble the tools for Cocoon's destruction." Snow fell completely silent after he heard that, and he actually stumbled back a little in disbelief while he slowly looked down at the crystal tear that he had been carrying around for all this time, drawing an amused smirk from Dysley as he asked, "Did it never occur to you, or did you simply refuse to countenance the thought?"

Lightning had fully expected Snow to try and deny those words, insisting once more that Serah had been telling them that their Focus was to save Cocoon, but when the blonde said nothing, she turned to see the unbelievable sight of despairing look on his face, while all of his usual confidence had disappeared, being replaced by sorrow and uncertainty. There had been many times when Lightning had wanted something to finally break Snow out of his irritatingly overconfident and cheery persona, but this was most certainly not what Lightning had ever had in mind. Plus, now that it had actually happened, Lightning found that it was not as enjoyable as she had often thought it would be. If anything, it actually scared her a little that Snow was so shaken up.

Thankfully, one person was still not too willing to give up on Snow's claims, and the others were all amazed when he did speak out against this, and so certainly at that. "It doesn't matter if he did consider it or not. None of that means anything you've said is true, and we've got no reason to buy anything that you're trying to sell us, either," Spider-Man insisted, drawing an intense glare from Dysley when he did. "I mean, come on. Even if you are a fal'Cie, Lord-Sovereign or otherwise, let's not forget the fact that you were just trying to kill us. I don't know if it's different for you guys, but for us humans, that usually means that the person in question is not trustworthy, and that's ignoring the fact that you're basically saying that they're Focus is to commit mass murder on a global scale. Besides, I don't know about the others, but I don't usually trust a man in a dress that commits such serious crimes on principle."

"You are probably the most defiant little l'Cie I have ever encountered," Dysley growled.

"Well, I'm special like that, and of course, there's also one other big reason why that might be the case," Spider-Man easily quipped back. "I'm not a l'Cie."

"Then you are of no use to me, and I'll hold no remorse over ending your existence here and now," Dysley concluded, his staff already gathering energy as he started speaking, and by the time he had finished, he fired the energy blast at Spider-Man. The web-head easily dodged the blast, but he was not able to react fast enough when Dysley suddenly teleported in front of him, and bashed him down onto the ground with one hand. The blow must have been incredibly hard, because Spidey actually groaned a little in pain as he started to sit up again, but he failed to realize that Dysley was preparing to blast him once more until it was already too late.

"SPIDER-MAN," the others shouted in horror when the energy blast struck kicking up a large dust cloud when it did, though none more loudly than Lightning.

Dysley on the other hand could only laugh in dark jubilation at what he had just done, never realizing that he was drawing a great deal of vengeful ire from the six l'Cie, even as he cheered, "So much for the mighty Spider-Man. Now perhaps you can all understand that there's no point in trying to defy…What?!"

The others were all confused as to why Dysley had suddenly stopped, when they realized that his gaze was now firmly fixed on the area that he had just blasted. They all immediately turned to see that the smoke had started clearing, and they were all left very surprised to find that Spider-Man was completely unharmed. More than that, he had been surrounded by some form of shinning red energy shield, while the spider-emblem on his chest glowed brightly. Spidey's head was ducked down with one of his arms raised over it, like he was preparing to block something, clearly having braced himself for the blast, so it took him a moment to register that he had not been injured. When he finally did look up, he was surprised to see the energy shield around him, along with the fact that it had started to slowly disappear after he had lowered his hand. He barely took note of how the emblem on his chest was glowing, as he was more preoccupied in studying his hand, wondering just what had happened while he did.

"Uh…did one of you do that," Sazh asked the group at large, thinking that one of his comrades might have been responsible for the shield around Spidey.

"Nope," Vanille denied.

"Wasn't me," Hope stated, and several more negatives came from the others soon after, slowly leading them to a startling conclusion.

"Then does that mean that…Spider-Man did that on his own," Lightning questioned, hardly believing the idea herself.

Dysley on the other hand, looked completely horrified by what he was witnessing, and thus, everyone missed it when he muttered, "It can't possibly be. Could this man actually be…the legendary Guardian Totem?" He continued to stare in shock until he finally ground his teeth in anger, thinking about how this would likely derail everything he was trying to accomplish even as he declared, "Very well. If you will not face the truth, then face the peril of your plight."

A minute later, they all felt the ship start shaking around them, as Dysley called his mechanical owl to him once more, and the group all watched as the bird transformed into a magnificent airship while Dysley himself disappeared, while saying, "Run, l'Cie! See how stark reality is, and bear witness to how little your totem friend can truly do for you!"

Most of the group could only glare at the place where Dysley had been before he disappeared, until an explosion suddenly rocked the ship even more than it already was, and it seemed pretty clear that they only had one way out, whether they liked it or not. "Come on," Lightning called out, leading the way to the airship that Dysley had just provided for them, the others close behind her. Most of them, at least, because when she turned back to make sure they were all following her, she saw that Spider-Man was still sitting where he had been before. "Spidey, we've got to go!"

That snapped Peter back to the situation at hand, and he immediately jumped up and used his webs to quickly pull himself over to the ship, not really caring all that much about the upcoming flight at the moment. He would have to ponder how he had survived Dysley's attack just now, and how he had apparently created that energy shield, but all the same, the whole thing was still niggling him at the back of his mind.

* * *

It's always something of a sad sight to see a mighty ship like the _Palamecia_ going down, but there was really nothing anyone could do to prevent it at this point, especially since all of the bridge crew was now dead, while everyone else on the flagship had either abandoned ship or died in their attempts to do that or confront the six l'Cie and Spider-Man. Still, it was much more astonishing when an airship came rocketing out of the area where the bridge should have been on the mighty vessel, despite the fact that no such ship should have been in that area, let alone one of this size. At least, it would have been to someone who had not been on the bridge when Dysley had revealed his true nature to Spidey and the others, but at the moment, said group was too busy worrying about their latest string of problems to be concerned with what others would think if they saw all of this.

"This is bad! The yoke's jammed," Sazh shouted, as he tried to steer the ship.

"What," Lightning exclaimed as she moved to stand alongside the pilot's seat.

"I knew it was a trap," Snow growled angrily.

Spidey would have argued that they all realized that, but knew that this ship was their only way to get out in time, had his Spider-Sense not suddenly started tingling a very serious warning. "Guys, we've got company," Spidey warned, turning in the direction said company was coming from.

They all turned to see a very bizarre war machine that none of them recognized flying right at them, with weapons primed and charged to fire. The minute they were in its range, the machine let loose what looked like a massive barrage of missiles, many of which appeared to be laced with electricity, forcing Sazh to take whatever evasive action he could. The airship shook violently as several of the missiles detonated around them, but eventually, it came around behind the enemy combatant and returned fire, with Sazh barely doing anything to make such actions happen. Their opponent was far more agile than any typical combat drone or PSICOM airship that they had seen before though, and it proved this by easily evading their ship's shots and spinning around to their back again, in a position that was a good distance above them before firing again. This time, they had very little chance of evading the shots, and they all watched in horror as the enemy missiles closed in on them.

Just when they were beginning to think that they would be hit, the whole ship suddenly became surrounded in an elaborate shield, blocking the missiles and flying easily through the smoke so that they could place some fair distance between them and their enemy, all the while making it seem like they were going down until the ship finally pitched upwards once more. "The hell kind of ship is this? Fighting on its own," Sazh demanded as he slammed a fist against the controls, incredibly frustrated with how he had little to no control over how their transport was currently working.

"Considering that we just avoided getting blasted to bits because of it, I'm not complaining too much," Spider-Man pointed out. He started rethinking that stance though when the ship dropped its shield and began firing on their enemy again.

The ship's efforts to counterattack did not matter too much though, as it only managed to score a few glancing hits on the enemy ship before said enemy managed to get around behind them again. The ship's shield came back on in an instant afterwards as it evaded or blocked the enemy fire, all the while flying straight towards the very place that Lightning, Hope, and Spider-Man had been trying to reach not too long ago: Eden. None of them wanted to take this fight into the floating city, but it looked like they did not have much choice in the matter, as the ship was determined to take them there. Lightning remained calm though, as she figured that the ship would have to pull away since it did not have much chance of getting through the barrier around the city on its own, but when she saw it start to become more apparent, while the ship made no effort to change its course, she was quickly starting to have doubts.

The others must have come to similar realizations, and they were all starting to worry even more at the sight before them, even as Hope asked, "Can't we do something?"

"Got me! I give up," Sazh shouted, having long since abandoned trying to get the crazy airship under control.

Everyone then turned to the resident web-head, hoping he would have something in mind, but Peter's only response was, "Don't look at me! Preventing airship crashes and things like this is something that I don't normally do! That's something that I usually leave to guys like Iron Man, Thor, Captain Marvel…you know, heroes who can at least fly!"

It turned out, there was no need for any of them to do that much of anything, as an opening suddenly made itself available to them, and they were soon sailing easily through the shield around Eden. When they came out the other side, they all immediately turned back to see that their pursuer had been unable to follow them, and was now turning around to fly back to wherever they had come from. They could all feel and see the ship had started to slow down to a steady flight speed, and figured they could relax a little now, and Spider-Man was preparing to do just that as he collapsed backwards into his seat a bit. Right when he had let out a quick breath that he did not realize he had been holding, Mary suddenly grabbed his attention with some information he had not been expecting. **"Peter, I'm detecting a signal from an active Spider-Tracer somewhere in this city."**

"What," Peter softly exclaimed, forgetting about nearly everything else for a moment, including the questions he had about what had happened on the _Palamecia_ before their escape. "But there shouldn't be any active trackers except for…Does that mean…"

"SAZH, LOOK OUT," Vanille suddenly shouted, drawing everyone's attention forwards again so that they could all see that they were flying straight for a massive tower, and it did not look like their crazy ride was planning on turning away.

With nothing else to do, they all just screamed in horror, bracing themselves for the impending crash, until the ship suddenly seemed to start jolting a little with some other unknown energy. No one was sure what this energy was, but whatever it was, it had some sort of backlash against the airship's passengers that eventually caused them to blackout while the ship itself just passed through the tower like it was not even there, and then disappeared. If anyone outside the ship had seen this, they did not pay it too much mind before moving on, but only because they had no idea what was waiting for the group of seven when they finally came to again in their latest destination.

* * *

 ** _AN: And that's that for now. So, long chapter, and with all kinds of crazy happening. The team's fully reunited, Dysley has been revealed as a fal'Cie, our six l'Cie heroes have been given a possible idea on what their Focus might be (even though Spidey has argued that they shouldn't believe it since they were being told all of that by a bad guy, and one who had just tried to kill them at that), Spidey found out that Doc Ock's somewhere in Eden, and it looks like Spidey's got some crazy new power!_**

 ** _Spidey: Speaking of which, mind explaining what that was? And what did Dysley...Barthandelus...whatever mean when he mentioned a Guardian Totem?_**

 ** _AN: You'll find out more on that later. Much later, because that is a big mystery that you all won't be learning the answer to any time soon. Let's just say that it ties into something that we mentioned earlier on in the story. Say around the point when Madame Web showed up?_**

 ** _By the way, "Great Saiyaman54", your wish has been granted. I hope you noticed that, because it was really enjoyable getting to work in all of those jokes that Spider-Man used on Dysley. Part of me also wanted to include a few fat jokes that we've seen Spidey use whenever he dealt with Kingpin, but I didn't really think they fit too well in this instance, so I just tossed that idea. Speaking of banter and dialogue, I know some of you are likely disappointed that we didn't get more of such things from Mary, but there was just not much area for me to work her in besides where I did. At least not without making the story a little all over the place._**

 ** _Hope: Well what about that little bit of info that Mary told Spider-Man about at the end there? What was up with that?_**

 ** _AN: I think that should be pretty obvious to everyone who's been paying attention to the story so far. As Spider-Man said, everyone in their group is all together, and none of them have active Spider-Tracers on them, but there is an active tracking device on someone, and I do believe that we all remember who it had been placed on when Snow mentioned it last chapter._**

 ** _Snow: Does that mean that Spidey's going to try and find us a way out of the Ark to go look for Serah next chapter._**

 ** _AN: I never said that. Yes, Spider-Man's going to try and track down Serah while in Eden, but not at this point in the story. Besides, you guys do remember that none of you were able to find a way out of that place without taking an airship to Gran Pulse, right?_**

 ** _Fang: He's got a point._**

 ** _Sazh: Is it wrong that I kind of enjoyed Spider-Man's interrogation of Nabaat?_**

 ** _AN: Considering your history with said woman, no, I certainly don't think so. Also, yeah, I had to include that crack Spider-Man made about her, because I honestly do feel like Nabaat seems like that type of woman, if you were to judge by her appearance and stature alone. It's part of the reason why I did not have any problem with killing her off again in this story, and likely will not have a problem with it later on in the future when I finally get around to that Ben 10 & Final Fantasy XIII crossover I'm planning on doing. Sure, we will likely see more of her, but that doesn't mean that I will like that fact._**

 ** _Now, I think we've covered everything important for now, so shall we get a move on?_**

 ** _Lightning: We're waiting on you at this point. Something we seem to do a lot of._**

 ** _AN: Yeah, yeah. Rub it in that I have a hard time getting several updates for a story out at an incredible pace nowadays, why don't you? More importantly though, Onto the Preview!..._**

 ** _The things that have been unveiled by Dysley, or Barthandelus (depending on whichever you prefer) have left the entire team quite shaken up. None more so than Snow, but Spidey still seems confident that the Primarch had been selling them nothing but lies. While some of the group are willing to agree with Spider-Man, others remain skeptical, especially when they learn about where they have just landed. What sort of encounters will they find in this Pulse armory, and is Spider-Man right to say that they can't trust what Dysley said about the others' Focus? The only way to find out it tune in, next time._**

 ** _Yeah, we're reaching that stage of the adventure, and it'll be off to Gran Pulse soon enough. Until then..._**

 ** _Please read and review, and swing on back for next time, fellow true believers!_**


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